The diaries of the last British Governor of Hong Kong, published on the 25th anniversary of the handover.

In June 1992 Chris Patten went to Hong Kong as the last British governor, to try to prepare it not (as other British colonies over the decades) for independence, but for handing back in 1997 to the Chinese, from whom most of its territory had been leased 99 years previously. Over the next five years he kept this diary, which describes in detail how Hong Kong was run as a British colony and what happened as the handover approached.

The book gives unprecedented insights into negotiating with the Chinese, about how the institutions of democracy in Hong Kong were (belatedly) strengthened and how Patten sought to ensure that a strong degree of self-government would continue after 1997. Unexpectedly, his opponents included not only the Chinese themselves, but some British businessmen and civil service mandarins upset by Patten's efforts, for whom political freedom and the rule of law in Hong Kong seemed less important than keeping on the right side of Beijing.

The book concludes with an account of what has happened in Hong Kong since the handover, a powerful assessment of recent events and Patten's reflections on how to deal with China - then and now.

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The diaries of the last British Governor of Hong Kong, published on the 25th anniversary of the handover In June 1992 Chris Patten went to Hong Kong as the last British governor, to try to prepare it not (as other British colonies over the decades) for independence, but for handing back in 1997 to the Chinese, from whom most of its territory had been leased 99 years previously. Over the next five years he kept this diary, which describes in detail how Hong Kong was run as a British colony and what happened as the handover approached. The book gives unprecedented insights into negotiating with the Chinese, about how the institutions of democracy in Hong Kong were (belatedly) strengthened and how Patten sought to ensure that a strong degree of self-government would continue after 1997. Unexpectedly, his opponents included not only the Chinese themselves, but some British businessmen and civil service mandarins upset by Patten's efforts, for whom political freedom and the rule of law in Hong Kong seemed less important than keeping on the right side of Beijing. The book concludes with an account of what has happened in Hong Kong since the handover, a powerful assessment of recent events and Patten's reflections on how to deal with China - then and now.

"A magisterial volume--a cocktail of autobiography, political analysis of the state of the world, and policy prescriptions." --"Foreign Affairs"
For fifty years, the Americans, British, and Europeans were close partners, yet today the Western alliance is strained to a moment of reckoning. In "Cousins and Strangers," Chris Patten, one of Europe's most distinguished statesmen, scrutinizes what has happened in the years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, pinpointing the shifts in power and security that have reshaped our world.
In penetrating and sparkling analysis, Patten argues that to face the urgent threats of the twenty-first century--terrorism, nuclear proliferation, failed and failing states, massive environmental change--the Western alliance must stop bickering and kowtowing and start asserting cooperative leadership. Bad habits and easy, self-absorbed slogans must give way to smart politics in order to ensure the world's, and our own, best interests. Drawing on his decades of experience in government and international diplomacy, Patten sharply assesses the leadership of the United States, Great Britain, and Europe, and the stakes for all three if the West breaks apart. Chris Patten, chancellor of Oxford and Newcastle universities, was from 1999 until 2004 European commissioner for external relations. He was previously the member of Parliament for Bath, chairman of the Conservative Party, and the last British governor of Hong Kong. He is the author of "East and West": " China, Power, and the Future of Asia." He lives in London. For fifty years, the Americans, British, and Europeans have been close strategic partners. After the Second World War, the United States helped preserve freedom in half of Europe and gave the West a remarkable half century of (for the most part) peace and prosperity. Yet today the Western alliance is strained to a moment of reckoning. In "Cousins and Strangers," Chris Patten scrutinizes what has happened in the years since the fall of the Berlin Wall, making sense of the fundamental shifts in international power that now shape out world, and making the case for reestablishing a strong and effective Western alliance in the years ahead. To face the urgent threats of the twenty-first century--terrorism, nuclear proliferation, fissures between rich and poor nations, failed and failing states, massive environmental change--the United States, Great Britain, and Europe must stop the bickering and assert cooperative leadership. Bad habits and easy, self-absorbed slogans must give way to smart politics in order to ensure our best interests. Patten, who served as the last British governor of Hong Kong and the European Union's diplomatic liaison to the rest of the world, shows how this responsibility falls on all three partners: * America's gunslinging attitudes and "you're with us or against us" unilateralism have alienated its friends in addition to its enemies. The United States must shun the imperial mantle, renew its commitment to global governance, and take on a leadership role--and a larger share of the expenses--in environmental and economic management. * The United Kingdom has acted more like a poodle than a partner to its American cousins, undermining Britain's own strategic interests at home and in Europe. Britain must reinvent the "special relationship" as a channel for persuading America to follow Europe's multilateral principles rather than as a cover for American unilateralism. * Europe, particularly France, has pushed back against a strong European Union--except as a free-trade zone and as a forum for sniping at U.S. policy. Europe must step up as a military and political leader just as it has on the economic front, taking on a larger share of the responsibility for security and policing that have previously been left to the United States. Drawing on his decades of experiences in elected government and international diplomacy, Patten investigates the three-way relationship among America, Britain, and Europe, and show how all three must adapt to cope with the economic and political challenges of the twenty-first century. "A brilliantly catty and nicely constructed text--so felicitous in its language and subtle in its jabs that one wishes for a bit more."--Josef Joffe, "The New York Times Book Review" "A brilliantly catty and nicely constructed text--so felicitous in its language and subtle in its jabs that one wishes for a bit more."--Josef Joffe, "The New York Times Book Review" "Surprisingly readable and literate, even slyly funny . . . But just below the surface of his more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger tone lurks a deep and burning resentment, aimed primarily at the Bush administration and what he sees as the swashbuckling collection of chicken hawks, Vulcans and neoconservatives who have propelled us and our partners into a period of mayhem and muddle that Patten clearly believes is the most dangerous since the end of World War II."--Glenn Frankel, "The Washington Post Book World" "Freed from the shackles of various offices, [Chris Patten] brings his peripatetic career and independent eye to bear on the fault lines and figures of international politics . . . sketching, and occasionally skewering, his subjects."--"Financial Times" "Useful and entertaining . . . Patten is eager to find through 'Europe' an alternative to American dominance."--"The Wall Street Journal" "Former chair of the British Conservative Party, last British governor of Hong Kong, former European commissioner for external relations, and now chancellor of Oxford, Patten has put all of his narrative virtuosity, breadth of vision, common sense, and often hilarious verve into this magisterial volume--a cocktail of autobiography, political analysis of the state of the world, and policy prescriptions, peppered with priceless anecdotes and incisive portraits. The most salient part of the book is Patten's sharp condemnation of the recent unilateralist, militaristic turn in U.S. foreign policy (he dislikes Vice President Dick Cheney and calls UN Ambassador John Bolton 'the Pavarotti of neoconservatism') and his equally sharp critique of Tony Blair's policy on Iraq ('Supporting the Bush invasion . . . is probably the worst service we have paid America'). Patten calls on Washington to return to the kind of policy it followed after World War II and for much greater U.S. involvement in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in global environmental and development issues, and in UN reform. He is also a lucid defender of the European Union, making strong cases for the inclusion of Turkey and for forging a union that is neither a superpower competitor of the United States nor just an appendix of Washington. In the end, Patten sees the economic rise of China and India as an opportunity for the West, but he also warns of the dangers of 'the revolt of the alienated' and 'the revolt of the dispossessed.' It is to be hoped that Patten will have more opportunities to apply his intelligence and his wit to international policy."--Stanley Hoffmann, "Foreign Affairs"
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"Chris Patten reaches behind the cliches of the Anglo-American relationship 'to tell it like it is.' This impo

Most politicians write autobiographies to 'set the record straight'. This is a different sort of memoir. Following his life as a self-confessed 'wet European' from parliament to Hong Kong and beyond, Chris Patten creates a meditation on personal and political identity which, in an age of simplification, shows the complexities of both. 'A defence of liberal conservatism ... If old-style centrism is to stage a comeback and reason to supplant stridency and authoritarianism, be it in west or east, the moderates can wave Patten's book on their way to their barricades' Jonathan Fenby, Financial Times 'Vivid, very well-written, First Confession joins the highest tier of recent works by British politicians' Paschal Donohoe, Irish Times 'Draws on his experience of four controversial institutions - the Tory party, the Vatican, the Chinese government and the BBC - to swell the tiny list of intelligent and cultured memoirs by front-line politicians' Mark Lawson, New Statesman, Books of the Year