2025/05/27 by Tim Summers · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/03068374.2025.2510454
openalex publication_date 2025/05/27 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/14
This paper examines the ways that the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration on the Question of Hong Kong (JD) has been instrumentalised since 2014 by the British and Chinese governments in relation to Hong Kong and the wider bilateral relationship. It shows how both governments and related policy actors have taken positions on the Joint Declaration which are motivated as much by their present political concerns as by questions of history or international law. This comes to the fore in disagreement over the status of the Joint Declaration and the current role of both parties, different emphases by the two governments on what it provides for, and their declarations of breaches or violations of the Joint Declaration. The paper is based on analysis of British and Chinese statements about the Joint Declaration from 2014 to 2024. It speaks to literature on British and Chinese foreign policy, Hong Kong politics and UK-China relations, against a backdrop of geopolitical change and debates about international order.