Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
If his invasion of Vietnam was his greatest foreign policy failure,
Deng's most significant foreign policy success was the U.S. govern-
ment's diplomatic recognition of the People's Republic of China. The
U.S. government continued to recognize the Nationalists on Taiwan
and the fiction of their claim to be China's sole legitimate government
until late 1978, when it finally faced reality and switched recognition to
the People's Republic of China. Nevertheless, the American public
and Congress were in no mood to abandon the Nationalists on Taiwan,
and in 1979 the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) was passed and signed
into law. The TRA, as it is known in American diplomatic and foreign
policy circles, states that the United States will remain committed to
the peaceful resolution of the fate of Taiwan and that any armed
aggression on the island by Beijing will be a matter of “grave concern”
to Washington. Over Beijing's objections, the U.S. government contin-
ued allowing arms sales to Taiwan even after diplomatically recogniz-
ing Beijing.
Deng's regime negotiated successfully with Britain for the return of
the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong to China in 1997. Although
the Treaty of Nanking stated that the island of Hong Kong was to be
ceded in perpetuity to the British crown, the New Territories, an exten-
sion of the Hong Kong colony leased to Britain in 1898 for 99 years,
were the most important part of the colony. Without them, the island
would be cut off from water, electricity, and other contacts with China.
London could not, therefore, realistically expect to return the New
Territories and retain the island. Nonetheless, the British government
was concerned about the residents of Hong Kong coming under Com-
munist rule after 1997. Deng, however, reassured Britain and the rest
of the world that China would largely leave Hong Kong alone for 50
years after its return to Chinese control. This would be possible under
Deng's new “one country, two systems” principle, which held that
socialism would be practiced on the mainland but that Hong Kong
could retain its own social and economic system and largely govern
itself. Deng, no doctrinaire Communist, could see that it was plainly
in China's economic self-interest to maintain Hong Kong's capitalistic
business contacts after 1997. What ultimately mattered was not the
economic system in Hong Kong, but the former colony's recognition
of itself as a part of China and its freedom from any foreign
government or colonial administration. Britain ultimately accepted
Deng's formula and in 1984 successfully negotiated arrangements for
the orderly return of the colony to China in 1997.
Deng's “one country, two systems” principle was not formulated
only with Hong Kong in mind. Deng and his supporters also insisted
