Britain adjusted tactics to sway Chinese leaders ahead of Joint Declaration visit in 1984

Britain used different tactics in dealing with different Chinese leaders, believing that individual leaders' relative hierarchy and personal styles required adjustments to achieve goals.

In background notes of November 1984 for then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's visit to China the following month, the Hong Kong Department of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office said the aim of the visit was to establish a climate of trust and goodwill in which the joint declaration could be put into effect.

"There are a number of outstanding points that will, in due course, need to be discussed with the Chinese. Some are sensitive and are better not raised at the highest level in order to avoid the risk of a rebuff at that level which would block further progress," the notes said.

"There is a strong negative aim, to avoid provoking a high-level statement from Chinese leaders inimical to our aims," the notes cautioned.

"But [premier] Zhao Ziyang is a practical man, and it would be helpful to explain to him in general terms our thinking about the Basic Law and the administration up to 1997."

The Foreign Office noted that Deng Xiaoping , who put forward the "one country, two systems" concept, had maintained a close interest in Hong Kong throughout the talks.