Hong Kong has been a British colony since 1842

England have

The British colony of Hong Kong is to be returned to China in 1997 after an historic agreement was signed in Peking today.

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher signed the Joint Sino-British Declaration with her Chinese counterpart Zhao Ziyang.

It formally seals the future of Hong Kong, transferring it from a British colony of six million people to communist China in 13 years.

The agreement, which will end 155 years of British rule in the colony, also launches a new era in trade and diplomacy between the two countries.

Chinese president Deng Xiaoping, who pursued the recovery of Hong Kong, greeted Mrs Thatcher.

The champagne ceremony took place at the Great Hall of the People before delegates who helped draw up the agreement, including 101 guests from Hong Kong.

Mrs Thatcher said: "The circumstances are unique. The agreement is unique.

"It is right that we should feel a sense of history, of pride and of confidence in the future."

The declaration outlines Hong Kong will be "restored" to the People's Republic of China with effect from July 1 1997 and will apply for fifty years.

It will be known as the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR).

Britain has agreed to return Hong Kong after guarantees it will "enjoy a high degree of autonomy, except in foreign and defence affairs".

And China's principle of "one country, two systems" allows Hong Kong to have a capitalist economy and enjoy existing rights and freedoms.

The Prime Minister later revealed the negotiation process had been rocky.

When Mrs Thatcher last visited Peking in 1982 the atmosphere was hostile as an agreement could not be reached.

Talks restarted in July 1983 and today's agreement, which was finalised only ten days before the 30 September deadline, is being hailed as a diplomatic coup.

Mrs Thatcher will visit Hong Kong tomorrow during her whistle-stop world tour.  

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has made a long journey in from the cold

The government of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has also agreed to allow weapons inspectors into Libya immediately and unconditionally to oversee the elimination.

Under the agreement, Libya, which is included on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism, will dismantle its weapons of mass destruction and limit the range of its missiles to no more than 300 km (186 miles).

It emerged that Tripoli has already allowed US and British experts to see elements of the weapons programmes during two trips to Libya in October and December this year.

In its statement today, the Libyan Foreign Ministry said: "[Libya] believes that the arms race will neither serve its security nor the region's security and contradicts [Libya's] great concern for a world that enjoys peace and security."

The statement has been welcomed by the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and the US President, George W Bush, who made televised addresses almost at the same time.

President Bush said the agreement, signed after nine months of secret negotiations, would "make the world and America a safer place, and the world more peaceful".

He went on to hint that tough US sanctions on Libya would be scrapped if Tripoli kept its word.

Mr Blair praised the decision as "historic" and "courageous".

"It shows that the problems of proliferation can be tackled through discussion and engagement," he said.

He revealed that Libya had approached Britain in March with an offer to open discussions on WMD.

Until then, intelligence officers had suspected that it was working on chemical and biological weapons but had never been able to confirm it.

Mr Blair said Libya had acknowledged it was working towards developing a nuclear weapon, and had got close to achieving its objective.

The breakthrough is the latest in a series of developments which have thawed previously frosty relations between Libya and the West.

One of the most significant was Tripoli's admission of responsibility in August this year for the Lockerbie air disaster in 1988, in which 270 people died.

Colonel Gadaffi agreed to pay $2.7bn compensation to relatives of those killed in the attack, paving the way for UNsanctionsagainst Libya to be lifted in September.

sanction: having no precedent or example（同意；许可）