September 26, 1984

Sino-British Joint Declaration

British and Chinese envoys initial the draft Sino-British Joint Declaration

Two diplomats’ initials — not the two heads of government later photographed at a ceremony — marked the breakthrough on Hong Kong.

Beijing, 26 September 1984

British ambassador Richard Evans and Chinese vice-foreign minister Zhou Nan, the leaders of the two negotiating teams, initialled the draft Joint Declaration on Hong Kong in Beijing on 26 September 1984.

Negotiators had settled the remaining issues four days earlier, on 22 September, closing talks that had begun in 1982.

Published the same day

The draft comprised a joint declaration and three annexes, released that day as a White Paper in London and Hong Kong and laid before the British Parliament. More than two million White Paper copies were subsequently distributed in Hong Kong.

Its published terms said China would resume sovereignty and Britain would restore Hong Kong on 1 July 1997, with Hong Kong becoming a Special Administrative Region whose stated basic policies would remain unchanged for 50 years.

Initialling is not signing

What existed after 26 September was an initialled draft entering political consultation — not a signed, ratified or legally binding treaty. Margaret Thatcher and premier Zhao Ziyang signed the completed declaration on 19 December 1984, and it entered into force only when ratification instruments were exchanged in May 1985.

The territory’s legal position was not uniform either: only the New Territories and New Kowloon were held under the 99-year lease of 1898. Hong Kong Island was ceded in 1842 and southern Kowloon in 1860, under different instruments.

Sources

Researched 24 Aug 2026 6 sources not yet audited

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet and rewritten from that sheet. This article has not yet had an independent model audit. How the pipeline works →