Perfidious Albion: The Abandonment of Hong Kong - Hardcover

McGurn, William

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0896331628 ISBN 13: 9780896331624

Publisher: University Press Of America, 1992

Synopsis

When Britain agreed to "restore" Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China in 1984, British spokesmen explained that the Communist Chinese were reforming and would allow Hong Kong to continue its dynamic capitalist ways. But the brutal suppression of the Chinese student protest in Tiananmen Square in 1989 made it clear that totalitarian Beijing does not tolerate even potentially rival centers of power.
William McGurn examines the background of the 1984 agreement and the current plight of Hong Kong's 5.8 million citizens. Although they hold British passports, the British government has refused to allow most of them in. McGurn urges the United States and other nations to open their doors to those who want to leave Hong Kong, not only as a humanitarian act but to infuse their own societies with talent and dynamism.

About this title

About the Author

William McGurn, Washington bureau chief of National Review, has been a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in Europe and the Asian Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong.

Review

A strong and clear analysis of how the British government has worked closely with the Communist Chinese to stifle the establishment of democracy in the last of its major colonies. (Martin Lee, Leader, Hong Kong pro-democracy movement Wall Street Journal Asia)

His well-wrought and inarguable conclusion: perfidious Albion (i.e., Britain) more or less sold out Hong Kong to the dictatorship in Beijing. (Martin Lee, Leader, Hong Kong pro-democracy movement Booklist)

...a brief and lucid account of a dauntingly intricate geopolitical dance of death. McGurn knows his subject intimately.... (Martin Lee, Leader, Hong Kong pro-democracy movement The American Spectator)

...sounds the alarm over Hong Kong's future...this is a useful if polemical primer on the issue Americans should pay more heed. (Martin Lee, Leader, Hong Kong pro-democracy movement Library Journal)

McGurn, in this well-written book, spared no mercy in his sustained attack on British hypocrisy....The sense of helplessness is well captured... (Martin Lee, Leader, Hong Kong pro-democracy movement Pacific Affairs)

Mr. McGurn's analysis makes a lot of sense...a delight to read with its masterful and grimly amusing dissection of London's strategy. (Wall Street Journal Asia)

A strong and clear analysis of how the British government has worked closely with the Communist Chinese to stifle the establishment of democracy in the last of its major colonies. (Martin Lee, Leader, Hong Kong pro-democracy movement Wall Street Journal Asia)

His well-wrought and inarguable conclusion: perfidious Albion (i.e., Britain) more or less sold out Hong Kong to the dictatorship in Beijing. (Martin Lee, Leader, Hong Kong pro-democracy movement Booklist)

...a brief and lucid account of a dauntingly intricate geopolitical dance of death. McGurn knows his subject intimately.... (Martin Lee, Leader, Hong Kong pro-democracy movement The American Spectator)

...sounds the alarm over Hong Kong's future...this is a useful if polemical primer on the issue Americans should pay more heed. (Martin Lee, Leader, Hong Kong pro-democracy movement Library Journal)

Edition details

• Publisher: University Press Of America
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0896331628
• ISBN 13: 9780896331624
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 144