撒切尔夫人赞扬了他的 "天才之举"，即构思了 "欺骗性地简单 "的一国两制解决方案。

 撒切尔夫人飞往北京，于12月19日在那里签署了正式文件。

在邓小平的注视下，赵紫阳总理代表中国签字。

在她的简报卡上，撒切尔夫人写下了对自己的提醒，以强调中国的承诺。

大卫-威尔逊认为，在她的内心深处，首相仍然渴望将香港岛作为英国国旗下的自由和企业的前哨。

她会喜欢它的，"他判断，"这对她来说非常重要。

她深深地不信任共产党人。

但这没有任何实际作用。

 

Mrs Thatcher flew to Beijing, where she signed the formal document on 19 December. With Deng looking on, Premier Zhao Ziyang signed for China. On her briefing cards, Mrs Thatcher wrote a reminder to herself to emphasise China’s commitments. David Wilson felt that in her heart the prime minister still yearned to keep Hong Kong island as an outpost of freedom and enterprise under the British flag. ‘She would have loved it,’ he judged, ‘it mattered a great deal to her. She deeply distrusted the Communists. But it was of no practical use.’

 

她与邓小平的会面是有礼貌的，但没有思想上的交锋。

撒切尔夫人赞扬了他的 "天才之举"，即构思了 "欺骗性地简单 "的一国两制解决方案。

中国领导人回应说，这应该归功于马克思主义辩证法。

她委婉地告诉他，香港人要求她转达他们的愿望，希望邓小平能活着看到香港在1997年回归中国。

他说，如果他还活着，他希望能访问香港。

 

Her encounter with Deng was courteous but there was no meeting of minds. Mrs Thatcher paid tribute to his ‘stroke of genius’ in conceiving the ‘deceptively simple’ solution of one country, two systems. The Chinese leader responded that the credit should go to Marxist dialectics. She told him, tactfully, that people in Hong Kong had asked her to pass on their wish that Deng should live to see the city return to China in 1997. He said that he cherished the hope of visiting Hong Kong if he was still alive.

 

对柯利達爵士来说，这是他迄今为止一生工作的圆满结果。

在他的回忆录中，这位干练的公务员回忆说，在回家的飞机上，他和撒切尔夫人发现自己正在背诵童年时从阿尔弗雷德-丁尼生的诗歌《尤利西斯》中学到的句子。

 

For Cradock it was the consummation of his life’s work so far. In his memoir, the dry civil servant recalled that on the plane home, he and Mrs Thatcher found themselves reciting the lines learned in childhood from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem Ulysses:

 

虽然被夺去了很多，但仍有很多；虽然Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’

 

我们现在没有过去那种力量We are not now that strength which in old days

撼动天地的力量，但我们是，我们是。

 

Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;

英雄的心都是一样的。

 

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

因时间和命运而变得脆弱，但意志坚强Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will

努力、寻求、发现、不屈服。

 

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.