Why did the UK not give Hong Kong to Taiwan?

[ninman]

I'm probably totally wrong on this, but wasn't the deal the UK made over Hong Kong with the Republic of China and not the horrible People's Republic, which I don't even classify as a country btw. Wouldn't it just be the biggest slap in the face if the UK handed Hong Kong over to Taiwan instead of China?

[TwoTongues]

Get 'er done, McFly.

[Jaboney]

Wikipedia is your friend:

Hong Kong's territory was acquired from three separate treaties: the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842, the Treaty of Beijing in 1860, and The Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory in 1898, which gave the United Kingdom the control of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon (area south of Boundary Street), and the New Territories (area north of Boundary Street and south of the Shenzhen River, and outlying islands), respectively.

Those treaties date back to Imperial Qing Dynasty China.

The ROC came into being 1 Jan 1912.

If it weren't for the Taiwan Strait, the ROC wouldn't exist today. How much sense would it make to hop across the water and stick a finger in the eye of the PRC?

[Chris]

Why did the UK not simply keep Hong Kong? After all, the treaty was with the Qing government, which is no more.

[TheLostSwede]

Why did the UK not simply keep Hong Kong? After all, the treaty was with the Qing government, which is no more.

+1 on that one

[tommy525]

One of many problems was that China controlled much of the freshwater that HK gets. Shut off the water, shut down HK>

There was no NOT dealing with the PRC on this. Thatcher hoped to get another 100 year contract signed. Teng decided to do something historic before he faded.

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general ... /1219.html

in hindsight, maybe the PRC couldve gotten the UK to rent HK for like 10 billion a year or something?

Now its just another Chinese city.

[Big Fluffy Matthew]

Why did the UK not simply keep Hong Kong? After all, the treaty was with the Qing government, which is no more.

I assume treaties are inherited by successive governments. Had it been before the 70s, it might have well been the ROC government, as they were the recognised successor to the Qing dynasty at the time, and ROC does own the original treaty.

[Icon]

Just last week I was working on the archives of that era. Fascinating stuff, with the ROC really staking a claim on HK.

[ninman]

See I always wonder what would happen if the world decided to recognise the ROC's claim as the rulers of China. I also wonder what it would take to make the PRC collapse and get a good government in power instead of the horrible people that are there now who torture their citizens on a daily basis.

[Jack Burton]

One of many problems was that China controlled much of the freshwater that HK gets. Shut off the water, shut down HK>

There was no NOT dealing with the PRC on this. Thatcher hoped to get another 100 year contract signed. Teng decided to do something historic before he faded.

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general ... /1219.html

in hindsight, maybe the PRC couldve gotten the UK to rent HK for like 10 billion a year or something?

Now its just another Chinese city.

The lovely irony is that the UK treated its colony like 2nd class citizens, and only espoused democracy, etc. when in talks to give it back to China.