The Hong Kong Diaries

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After he left Hong Kong, Patten was part of the EU team that negotiated China’s accession to the World Trade Organization in 2002. Tony Blair suggested that it made “the road to democracy [in China] unstoppable”. What a bunch we have to deal with,” he writes in May 1995 when Chinese officials refused to meet him during their visit to the city. But the governor’s frustration with much of the business elite, anxious only to kowtow to Beijing and go on making a lot of money, was almost as great. Strained relations extended even to his more natural political allies, the Hong Kong democrats led by Martin Lee. Though on the eve of handover, Patten admits glumly: “They are good and brave people. We have let them and others down.” Patten’s most withering comments are reserved for Sinophile diplomats in London, many of whom viewed he with disdain

British media: 20 years after the Hong Kong handover, what does Chris Patten regret?]. BBC News (in Chinese). 28 June 2017 . Retrieved 16 July 2019. Most politicians write autobiographies to 'set the record straight'. This is a different sort of memoir. Following his life as a self-confessed 'wet European' from parliament to Hong Kong and beyond, Chris Patten creates a meditation on personal and political identity which, in an age of simplification, shows the complexities of both.In 2016, in the wake of a student movement to remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes from a college in Oxford, as had happened in South Africa, Patten said that Oxford students who did not like Cecil Rhodes should "think about being educated elsewhere". [28] Chris Patten urges UK to investigate origins of coronavirus in China". The Guardian. 30 April 2020.

Lu] complained that Beijing had not been properly consulted, that he [Lu] and his colleagues were not being given any face, that we [Chinese] were bouncing them with these proposals, that they [British] were out of step with the Basic Law. Patten turned down offers of a new post and instead, in July 1992, he became the 28th and the last governor of Hong Kong until its transfer of sovereignty to China on 30 June 1997. He was given an official Chinese name, Pang Ding-hong ( Chinese: 彭定康), a name with an etymology based on the words "stability" and "calm; joyous; healthy". Unlike most previous Hong Kong governors, he was not a career diplomat from the UK Foreign Office although he was not the first former MP to become a governor of Hong Kong. [17]Patten was the Conservative Party candidate for Lambeth Central at the February 1974 general election, but lost to the Labour Party candidate, Marcus Lipton. He was elected as the Member of Parliament for Bath in 1979, and served until he was unseated in 1992. According to information from the US Embassy in Brussels (published by WikiLeaks in November 2010): Patten said in April 2004 that Russian President Vladimir Putin has done a good job for Russia mainly due to high world energy prices, but he had serious doubts about the man's character. Cautioning that "I'm not saying that genes are determinant," Patten then reviewed the Putin family history – grandfather part of Lenin's special protection team; father a communist party apparatchik, and Putin himself decided at a young age to pursue a career in the KGB. "He seems a completely reasonable man when discussing the Middle East or energy policy, but when the conversation shifts to Chechnya or Islamic extremism, Putin's eyes turn to those of a killer." However, British thought differently. Patten alleged that China’s intention did not focus on the legality of contracts, but cared much on confidence in the market, lower morale and investor confidence (p.85). Taking property rights seriously in the contract, Patten defended British rights in Hong Kong all the way before 1997. He wanted China to know that Britain was still fully in power before 1997. Admittedly, any political reform before 1997 was set to influence Hong Kong for many years to come. For this reason, both China and the United Kingdom agreed to extend the “One Country, Two Systems” until 2047. Patten’s democratic reform in the LegCo would affect the future of Hong Kong society. Therefore, the implementation of democratic reform in Hong Kong would annoy China. Patten might not know or realize that Chinese are taught to be loyal and obedient to their leaders. Yet Patten is also very interested in maintaining his family life. The Diaries is full of sentiments and passions for his wife (Lavender) and three daughters (Kate, Laura and Alice). Patten dedicates his book to Lavender. He states that Lavender “gave up her career so that [he] could go to Hong Kong”. Lavender also helped him “hugely in his work as Governor,” and loved Hong Kong as much as he did. Indeed, The Diaries reveals Patten’s deep love for his three daughters, yet grounded in his views of individualism, independence, self-reliance, and venturing. Patten let his three children decide whether they lived in Hong Kong or not (pp.19-20).

It’s a strange thing to reinhabit the years of Patten’s book, the last trappings of British empire dissolving in a series of intractable negotiations with the Beijing government. Grand promises made about “one country, two systems” mixed with anecdotes about the Pattens’ three daughters and two dogs. Reading it, you can’t help but reflect on an essential loss of rigour in Britain’s dealings with the world; contrast the likes of Douglas Hurd and Malcolm Rifkind as foreign secretaries with the incumbent, Liz Truss. Britain truly imported the rule of law, an engine to bolster HK fortunes to be, prior its return to China, an economic pillar of the world. A debate on the “rule of law” vs “rule by law” is central in the book. The ethnocentric view of culture argues that we evaluate other cultures solely by the values and standards of our own culture. The cultural clashes between Chris Patten and Chinese delegates are revealed in terms of their family values, communication skills, negotiation strategies, and contractual arrangements. Broadly speaking, they reflect cultural differences between the East and West. From this perspective, Patten’s book makes much sense. Therefore, to resolve the ongoing chaotic situation in Hong Kong, understanding differences in cultural values between China and the UK is of utmost importance. Because the 2022 polemic is much shorter than the diaries and is also more current, some readers may turn there first. But the journal entries provide a foundation for understanding why the circumspect optimism of 1997 has been so tragically confounded under Beijing’s later rule.

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Espinoza, Javier. "Oxford University students who don't like Cecil Rhodes should 'think about being educated elsewhere', says chancellor". The Daily Telegraph. London, United Kingdom. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022 . Retrieved 14 January 2016. The diary helps me conduct different thought experiments. If David Wilson had been the last governor, maybe there would have been no need for any non-binding promises at all! Both the territory and the populace would automatically welcome a peaceful reunification with the Motherland—splendid! In a 2022 interview with London-based Hong Kong YouTube channel Green Bean Media Patten expressed that he was angry and sad about the current situation in Hong Kong. He said "Hong Kong should have been an extraordinary place, but we saw it destroyed by a brutal ideology and a group of traitors" and described the situation as "very frustrating." He also praised Hong Kong citizens who immigrated to the UK for their contributions to British life. [51] The 1996 Hong Kong parody film Bodyguards of the Last Governor, presents 'Christ Pattern' as the Governor of Hong Kong. In addition to the name, Pattern appears to be based heavily on Patten, matching his appearance, political affiliation (Conservative) and family (a wife and two daughters with him in Hong Kong). His role however is minor as the film depicts him being replaced with one month to go before the handover. He is portrayed by Noel Lester Rands. [57] In February 2010, Patten was appointed President of Medical Aid for Palestinians, but he stepped down in June 2011. [56]

Raised in west London, Patten studied history at Balliol College, Oxford. Shortly after graduating in 1965, he began working for the Conservative Party. Patten was elected Member of Parliament for Bath in 1979. He was appointed Secretary of State for the Environment by Margaret Thatcher in 1989 as part of her third ministry, becoming responsible for implementation of the unpopular poll tax. On John Major's succession as Prime Minister in 1990, Patten became Chairman of the Conservative Party and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. As party chairman, he successfully orchestrated a surprise Conservative electoral victory in 1992, but lost his own seat.On March 20, 2014 Patten gave a talk at the Hong Kong Maritime Museum co-organized by Oxford University where he expressed his views on Hong Kong Basic Law and the "one country, two systems" principle. He opined that the situation in Hong Kong was good but not perfect but believed that the British people could have done more for political reform before leaving Hong Kong. He emphasized that political and economic freedoms are closely linked, and that when one freedom is eroded, the other will be affected. [39] Patten, who helped transform the RUC into the PSNI, on his Irishness, Catholicism and the wrench of Brexit [ permanent dead link]