Re: "I could walk in and take the whole lot this afternoon"
Interesting - especially as the "nothing East of Suez" dated long before Thatcher - back to the 1960's and was used to justify the end of the RN's carrier fleet. And was exactly the reason why there wasn't any significant RN presence in HK.
Then you have the small fact of the treaty that had only a 99 year lease on most of Hong Kong. The UK could have ignored/broke it. All that would do is demonstrate an utter lack of respect for treaties. There is no possible way that could rebound right?
I think you are perhaps misremembering things.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
