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The PRC kept them from doing that.
by wbl 8y ago
The PRC kept them from doing that.
- skissane 8y agoChris Patten tried to introduce democracy in 1992, with less than 5 years to go before the agreed handover, and that angered Beijing yes. And then, when the handover happened, Beijing reversed Patten's reforms. But if the UK had done the same thing in 1980 or 1970 or 1960 or 1950? I don't think the PRC could have done anything about it. The UK never really cared about Hong Kong democracy. If they had, they would have implemented democratic reforms decades ago, instead of leaving it until the very last minute.
- ethbro 8y agoNot to put too fine a point on it, but the British (colonial historically and more recently) have always seemed to find democracy a bit... inconvenient. Both for their colonies and for themselves.