At midnight on 30 June 1997 over a century and a half of British rule in Hong Kong came to an end. On that unforgettable rain-sodden evening on the Hong Kong waterfront, watched by millions of people all over the world, the Union Flag was lowered, folded and received by Chris Patten, the colony's last governor. "Nimrod" was played. It was, in all likelihood, the last great British imperial moment.
Unlike his immediate predecessors as governor, Chris Patten was not a career diplomat but an established politician, Chairman of the Conservative Party which had won the General election of 1992 against all the odds, and a close friend of the Prime Minister. In this book, Patten writes, frankly and directly, and for the first time, about his experiences as governor, about why he adopted the stance on democracy that he did, and about how he fought his battles. Anyone who was moved by the drama of 30 June will be riveted by the account given here of the events that led up to it.
But the bulk of the book is not about the past - it is about the present and the future. It answers questions such as: Why has the Far East more generally prospered so spectacularly over recent decades, and how serious are its recent crises? Can such conditions for prosperity be reproduced elsewhere? What can East and West teach each other about how to live and prosper in the future?
Patten's discussion of the answers to these and many other questions is wonderfully lucid and entertaining. His perspective of the recent past, through the rapidly changing present to a future about which he is (guardedly) optimistic, has a unique authority. He is revealing of his own ambitions and personality. Together these make 'East And West' one of the most stimulating and engaging books to have appeared from a politician of any party in recent years.
Contains 16 pages of black and white photographs.
