British Chinese Relations Essay

Following the stir of Hong Kong from the British in effect stop some(prenominal) remnants of British imperialism in china, and in the process ended much of Britains involvement/ post in Asia. The deflectover has in addition given chinaw are control over hotshot of the dry lands leading financial institutions, thus improving not only its scotch standing precisely also its ability to function soft great power. The turnab proscribed could be said for the effects on the United surface area, where the turnover effectively halted their control over the sparing powerho recitation and ushered in a refreshing era of Anglo-Chinese dealings, even so this is not necessarily a bad thing. Since the turn over of Hong Kong from England, relations mingled with chinaware and the United Kingdom pass water improved and a epicr bond has come about. Before I can begin to speak on the effects of The Turnover, I must(prenominal) first give a history of the events that made the turn over possible. over receivable to the trade imbalance between China and the United Kingdom in the 1800s, the UK thought it might be advantageous to sell opium to the Chinese.Within a few years, the UK had gotten China addicted to opium and was starting to close the trade deficit. This in tern made the Qing dynasty officials very angry and they decided that they would disallow the importation of Opium into China. The British saw this make out as an insult and in return they attacked China. This act started the first Opium War. Due to the Qing Dynastys limited armada, the British effectively wiped out the Qing forces and took possession of the land where Hong Kong currently is. The possession and occupation would not be leg henchman binding until a come up toy signed in 1898 that rent the land to the British for 99 years. Following the fall of the Qing dynasty and the rise of the land of China in 1912, the relationship between China and the United Kingdom still remained fairly un equal. At this time, the British Empire was still the grounds hegemonic leader and they were not afraid to show their might. This was reflected in the loaning practices (or lack there off) that the British showed the republic of China in those years.In these years following the foundation of the Republic, it was commonly known that the British would treat the Chinese as second class citizens in their own rural while taking advantage of Chinas resources. This was also bare in the effort that the British put into protecting its Chinese workers during ball War 1 and World War 2. During the World Wars the UK failed to protect Hong Kong from the powers that take heedk to invade it and in the process failed to prevent many preventable deaths. after(prenominal) World War 2, all Anglo-Chinese relations came to a complete halt. This is due to Chairman monoamine oxidase deciding to close off all orthogonal interaction with the newly founded nation. This is due to what Mao thought was the influence of a corrupted political ideology and to support heal the wounds of British imperialism. Deng handle Mao believed that a communist China was a good China, til now they disagreed as to what extent communism should have on the everyday lives of the people. age Maos main concern was providing the bare essentials to every Chinese citizen then Chinas outlook on the world stage, Deng on the other hand wanted China to become a world power, then wanted to cater to the Chinese people, even going as far to tell apart, some will become rich faster than others. It was in this mind frame that he started divvying up the collectively run state property to create competition between Chinese citizens. Deng felt this was essential because the Chinese economy has been lagging since the start of the Great Leap warm-up and due to Maos policies it looked as if it would continue on that track. During Maos communist campaign throughout China, many British feared that he might also have h is eyes set on Hong Kong. umpteen British knew that their influence on the world stage was starting to develop and that another costly war, with a country as large as a Soviet okay China, would prove disastrous to the British canful line.Yet at the resembling time, many British were not tremendous of Chinas new communist regime because they thought it lacked the legitimacy and power to effectively resist the Wests hold on Hong Kong. During this time in history, the United Kingdom still possessed a large area of the worlds land and had a large navy that was capable of at least argue itself if it felt endanger enough. Also because the United Kingdom refused to acknowledge the PRC as a legitimate country, any provocation towards Hong Kong from Mao would have proved disastrous, as it might have set the stage for a foreign backed coup by the Nationalist forces. The British knew about these ways of mentation and at the time did not feel China, in its current state, was a legitima te threat to any of its resources or power that it had vested in Hong Kong or Macau.By the time Deng to the reigns in China, the United Kingdom was a take to task of itself during the Imperialism era, and its relationship with China was no more than that of a superior to humble but more so on the level of equals. Analysts began to predict that because China had large numbers of cheap labor and a safely permanent government, trade and manufacturing exports between Britain and China would prove advantageous to both nations. This is one of the reasons why the British began to see China as more of a player on the world stage. But even before Deng came to power in 1978, the UK still began to show some favor towards China by signing and even advocating UN Resolution 2758 which transfered the China Security Council seat from the Republic of China to the Peoples Republic of China, respectfully.It was in these diplomatic agreements that China and the UK could find equal ground to later s peak on the transfer of Hong Kong from British authority to Chinese authority. During the duologue with the United Kingdom, China remained durable and strong on the issue of the UK retaining any authority over the region after the handover in the late 1990s. This is due to the fact that many of the Chinese leaders at that time thought that the treaties which gave the UK rights over the region were not done equatibly and some went as far as calling them out-and-out(a) illegal. Moreover, many at the time were surprised that the strong U.S. friend ally would even agree with talks with a Communist nation but at the time Britian had no choice. Hong Kong received the majority of its water and power from the PRC, let alone many of its exported items. These aspects combined with the fact of without the benefactor of the United States, the United Kingdom had no way of effectively defending Hong Kong if the the PRC decided to invade. For one of the first times since contact between the Un ited Kingdom and China began, China had the complete upperhand against the British.Following the handover, relations between China and the U.K. have been relatively calm. Without out any vested insterest in the region, the United Kingdom does not come in contact with China very often because there isnt much to speak about. Although many British companies do still own many factories in China, the factories are running smoothly and regulations on them have not become more or less strengent since the turnover, so there isnt much for the British and Chinese to quarrel over. However, during these peaceful times, the United Kingdoms economic and military might have remained reliatively stagnent while the Chinas continues to grow, yet China does not recpricate the sentiment that Britian gave to it for so many years. If anything China has kaput(p) above and beyond with talks to England with China offering money to help out the European economy and agreeing to billions in trade to England.F rom my earlier interviews, I gathered that most people were happy that China has taken the risque road in dealing with the United Kingdom. Most were pleased to see China becoming more active on the world stage, so theyd be upset if the Chinese government did anything to upset this activity, and make trouble with the British would certainly upset this peace. For the majority of its history, China has prefered to use soft power to deal with its problems and one could surmise that it would do the same if it ever had any confrentations with England, but as of recently, China has not had to use its influence with the United Kingdom because talks have been cordial. One could suggust that these talks will remain the way for the forseeable future.