Former British prime minister Baroness Thatcher says she regrets failing to persuade Beijing to let Britain lease Hong Kong for a longer period.
Lady Thatcher, who visited Beijing in 1984 to sign the Sino-British Joint Declaration, also was reported by British newspaper The Sunday Telegraph saying she had doubts about the 'one country, two systems' formula.
The report was based on a BBC documentary, Hong Kong: a decade of change, with Hong Kong socialite David Tang Wing-cheung commissioned by the BBC to present the programme for Radio 4 in Britain. It will be broadcast on June 19.
Lady Thatcher, 81, is understood to have been persuaded to give the interview by Mr Tang. The pair are long-time friends, and it was her first interview for almost five years. The documentary marks the 10th anniversary of the Hong Kong handover.
The report said Lady Thatcher, prime minister from 1979 to 1990, had expressed disappointment at failing to persuade Deng Xiaoping to allow Britain to extend its lease on Hong Kong. Deng died in February 1997.
'What I wanted was a continuation of British administration,' Lady Thatcher was quoted as saying in the radio interview. 'But when this proved impossible, I saw the opportunity to preserve most of what was unique to Hong Kong through applying Mr Deng's idea ['one country, two systems'] to our circumstances.'
She also admitted having doubts about the 'one country, two systems' formula devised by Deng.