ABSTRACT
The practice of Chinese people's applying the thought of "one country, two systems" to the negotiations with British and Portuguese governments to address the problems of Hong Kong and Macao provided a good example for peaceful settlement of international disputes. To solve the problems of Hong Kong and Macao is absolutely within the scope of China's sovereignty issues instead of in the range of so-called 'colonial' affairs. In 1886, the Qing government and the British-Hong Kong authorities signed the Hong Kong Opium Trade Agreement. The proposal of Chris Patten's "constitutional reform program" set up barriers to Sino-British cooperation on the question of Hong Kong and caused social unrest and division in Hong Kong. Britain's intention to Hong Kong before the start of Sino-British negotiations was to maintain the present colonial rule of the British government over Hong Kong after 1997 without changing anything.
