Talk:Convention for the Extension of Hong Kong Territory

Broken book reference in the first paragraph of Background

The first paragraph was backed by this reference: China Foreign Policy and Government Guide: Strategic Information and Developments, volume 1, URL: https://books.google.com/books?id=umm0ONPC5D8C&pg=PA23, year: 2011, ISBN: 9781433006869. When the link is clicked, a 404 page came up. I went ahead and rephrased the section focusing more on what was signed and why and less on the “forcing” POV speech, the context for which could be found on the Unequal treaty page that I now linked. Goblin89 (talk) 17:52, 17 June 2023 (UTC)

What were China's motivations?

The background is incomplete. It explains why the British wanted more territory, but not why the Chinese agreed to lease it to them rent-free. Perhaps, British military power played a role, but since it was apparently 40 years after the last war (the Second Opium War), this is not clear. This isn't explained at History of Hong Kong (1800s–1930s)#Confrontation either. Superm401 - Talk 16:25, 8 August 2013 (UTC)

User:Philg88 expanded the background section in February 2014. Just a moment ago I supplemented some details. Essentially it was a series of concessions to balance the European powers in China and maintain the independence of China, after China became weakened following the defeat to Japan. Near the end of Qing dynasty, China was so weak that they could not say no to the foreign powers, and that the balance of powers is the key to avoid the partition of China. --Quest for Truth (talk) 18:49, 20 July 2018 (UTC)

The Qing were also under immense domestic pressure from the Boxers et al and didn't want that compounded by the trouble that pushing back against the Great Powers and their treaties would cause. That (suitably sourced) could be added.  Philg88 ^♦talk 06:57, 21 July 2018 (UTC)

The Chinese weren't in much of a position to resist, so for them it was a matter of minimising losses. Although the issue of rent payments came up, they later dropped it and made it rent-free to avoid being accused of selling off the country's territories. MacDonald saw it as a permanent cession in disguise. The great irony is that what was meant to be a temporary lease ended up in retrospect being an appointment with China for the rest of Hong Kong. The Cantonese-speaking Governor Cecil Clementi was deeply familiar with the Chinese and saw this coming. He said that returning the NT to China "would be fatal" to HK. He tried extending the lease by using Weihaiwei as a bargaining tool to secure HK beyond 1997, but he couldn't persuade London. Unless Britain seized the opportunity, China's growing nationalism and military power would rule out that option. What was so self-evident and urgent to him on the spot was not so apparent to a government half a globe away. (For the record, Clementi wasn't the first one to suggest this. Frederick Lugard and Francis May wanted to convert the lease to a perpetual cession, but neither were successful). Spellcast (talk) 20:58, 21 July 2018 (UTC)