Chinese president Xi Jinping must strive to calm the “hearts and minds” of Hong Kong’s seven million citizens during the upcoming commemorations of the 20th anniversary of handover, the territory’s last British governor has said.



On 1 July it will be two decades since the former colony reverted to Chinese control under the “one country, two systems” formula, which guaranteed it far greater freedoms than the authoritarian mainland.

The anniversary, which pro-democracy campaigners are vowing to mark with street protests, is also expected to see Xi make his first trip to the territory since becoming China’s top leader in 2012.

Amid continuing disquiet over Beijing’s dilution of Hong Kong’s social and political freedoms, Lord Patten urged Xi to use the visit to reiterate his administration’s commitment to the 1984 Sino-British joint declaration, the accord that paved the way for handover, in 1997.

Under the agreement China pledged to leave Hong Kong’s social and economic systems and lifestyle “unchanged” for 50 years.



“I hope he takes the opportunity to reassure people in Hong Kong that China still stands four-square behind what it promised back in 1984 and 1985 and later and that he, like Deng Xiaoping, believes that people in Hong Kong are perfectly capable of running their own affairs,” Patten told a US congressional hearing about the political situation 20 years after handover.

“There was a very important remark that Deng Xiaoping made back in 1984 to set the minds and hearts of people in Hong Kong at rest. I have to say that, though I think there is much good that is still happening in Hong Kong, people’s hearts and minds aren’t exactly at rest at the moment.”

Twenty years after he sailed out of Hong Kong on the Royal Yacht Britannia, Patten, who is now chancellor of the University of Oxford, admitted doomsday predictions about post-handover Hong Kong had not come to pass.

“[Some] thought for example that even I would be leaving in a helicopter from the ballroom roof in government house and that sooner or later there would be violence in Hong Kong.”

“That hasn’t happened … But there has been I think a steady and growing erosion … of Hong Kong’s autonomy and I think that’s much to be regretted. Hong Kong and China will be the losers from that.”

The run-up to July’s handover commemorations has been marred by a series of arrests targeting democracy activists. Campaigners claim the detentions are an attempt to silence dissent and deter would-be protesters ahead of president Xi’s anticipated visit.

Speaking at the same congressional hearing on Wednesday, Joshua Wong, the 20-year-old pro-democracy activist, claimed a campaign of “massive political persecution” was now under way in Hong Kong.

Wong pointed to attempts to remove Nathan Law, the territory’s youngest ever lawmaker, from power after he used his swearing-in last October to challenge China’s Communist party rulers.



“You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy this body. But you will never imprison my mind,” 23-year-old Law told the session, quoting Gandhi.



Two other elected lawmakers, who were known for their pro-independence views, have already been disqualified from office for defying Beijing during the same ceremony.

Patten blamed the government’s decision to cut off dialogue with moderate democracy campaigners for fuelling support for pro-independence activists.



He also said the recent election of Hong Kong’s chief-executive – in which only 0.03% of Hong Kong’s registered voters had a say – had brought “a peculiarly Chinese meaning to the word election”. Despite enjoying widespread popular support, the losing candidate, former financial secretary John Tsang, “got the thumbs down from the ayatollahs because he’d counselled on the case for dialogue with the democracy activists”, Patten noted.



The Conservative peer urged western governments to confront Beijing over the situation in Hong Kong in the lead-up to July’s anniversary.

“I just hope that we will speak out, the British government will speak out, rather more loudly over the coming months and years … I’ve always felt that we let down the generation before Joshua Wong, his parent’s generation, and I hope we don’t let down Joshua Wong’s generation as well.”

A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry condemned the hearing as “a blatant interference in China’s internal affairs”.

“The attempts of some individuals in Hong Kong to collude with foreign forces in meddling with Hong Kong affairs will never succeed,” said spokesperson Geng Shuang.