Chris Patten on Hong Kong’s handover, 10 years on

AFP/GETTY IMAGES Sunday marked the tenth anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover, and Chinese President Hu Jintao made his first visit to the former British colony as part of the celebration. He attended the spectacular fireworks display, but he apparently missed the thousands of Hong Kongers marching in the streets demanding democratic reforms and universal suffrage. ...

600822_070617_ib_glamor_shot2.jpg
600822_070617_ib_glamor_shot2.jpg

AFP/GETTY IMAGES

AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Sunday marked the tenth anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover, and Chinese President Hu Jintao made his first visit to the former British colony as part of the celebration. He attended the spectacular fireworks display, but he apparently missed the thousands of Hong Kongers marching in the streets demanding democratic reforms and universal suffrage.  

As part of our regular “Epiphanies” series of interviews with famous faces about revelatory moments in their lives, FP spoke recently with Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong and the man credited with introducing many of the reforms that Hong Kong democrats are fighting for today. The man known to Hong Kongers as “Fatty Pang” opens up about his memories of his first negotiations with the Chinese government and how he got through the vitriolic attacks made against him by Beijing. Check it out.

Carolyn O'Hara is a senior editor at Foreign Policy.

More from Foreign Policy

Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.
Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.

At Long Last, the Foreign Service Gets the Netflix Treatment

Keri Russell gets Drexel furniture but no Senate confirmation hearing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.

How Macron Is Blocking EU Strategy on Russia and China

As a strategic consensus emerges in Europe, France is in the way.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.

What the Bush-Obama China Memos Reveal

Newly declassified documents contain important lessons for U.S. China policy.

A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.
A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.

Russia’s Boom Business Goes Bust

Moscow’s arms exports have fallen to levels not seen since the Soviet Union’s collapse.