撒切尔夫人、福克兰群岛、香港九龙新界、割让、租约、主权回归

 撒切尔夫人、福克兰群岛、香港九龙新界、割让、租约、主权回归

用战争造成的割让事实

也可以靠战争改变事实

英国人和平离开香港

已经比葡萄牙被印度用武力赶出果阿体面多了

而且

葡萄籽被印度羞辱时

英国也没根据已英葡同盟数百年的条约出兵相助

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就撒切尔夫人而言，她知道这不是阿根廷和福克兰群岛，在那里迅速的军事行动扭转了侵略并恢复了现状。

这是不可能的。

首相以典型的彻底性，向她的参谋长们征求专业意见。

士兵们告诉她，面对解放军，香港不可能被保卫很长时间。

 

For her part Mrs Thatcher knew that this was not Argentina and the Falklands, where swift military action had reversed aggression and restored the status quo. There was no prospect of that. With typical thoroughness, the prime minister asked her chiefs of staff for their professional opinion. The soldiers told her that Hong Kong could not be defended for very long against the PLA.

 

中国军事干预的风险直到1997年7月1日晚都没有减弱，但撒切尔夫人对三件事的想法很坚定。

首先，她认为英国根据三个有效的国际条约拥有香港、九龙和新界。

第二，作为一名律师，以及一名在20世纪30年代长大的政治家，她认为条约是神圣不可侵犯的：正如大卫-卫奕信所说，条约必须遵守的法律原则。

第三，她认为英国可以坚守香港岛和九龙一角，因为这两个地方是永久割让的，即使它不得不在1997年交还新界。

 

The risk of Chinese military intervention was never to abate until the evening of 1 July 1997, yet Mrs Thatcher was firm in her own mind about three things. First, she believed that Britain held Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories under three valid international treaties. Second, as a lawyer, and as a politician brought up in the 1930s, she felt that treaties were sacrosanct: as David Wilson put it, the legal principle of pacta sunt servanda – agreements must be kept. Third, she thought that Britain could hold on to Hong Kong island and the tip of Kowloon because both had been ceded in perpetuity, even if it had to hand back the New Territories in 1997.