Percy Cradock

The Right Honourable Sir Percy Cradock GCMG
British Ambassador to the People's Republic of China
In office 1978–1983
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Preceded by	Sir Edward Youde
Succeeded by	Sir Richard Evans
Chargé d'affaires, Peking
In office 1968–1969
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Preceded by	Sir Donald Hopson
Succeeded by	John Denson
Personal details
Born	(1923-10-26)26 October 1923 Byers Green, County Durham, United Kingdom
Died	22 January 2010(2010-01-22) (aged 86) London, United Kingdom
Education	Alderman Wraith Grammar School, Spennymoor
Alma mater	St John's College, Cambridge

Experience

Served at Foreign Office, London (1954–1957) First Secretary, Kuala Lumpur (1957–1961) Seconded to Hong Kong (1961–1962) Chinese Secretary, Peking (1962–1963) Served at Foreign Office, London (1963–1966) Counsellor and Head of Chancery, Peking (1966–1968) Chargé d'affaires, Peking (1968–1969) Head of Planning Staff, Foreign Office (1969–1971) Under-Secretary and Head of Assessments Staff, Cabinet Office (1971–1975) Ambassador to German Democratic Republic (1976–1978) Leader, UK Delegn to Comprehensive Test Ban Discussions at Geneva (1977–1978) Ambassador to the People's Republic of China (1978–1983) Leader of UK team in negotiations over Hong Kong (1982–1983) Deputy Under-Secretary of State, Foreign Office (1984) Foreign Affairs Advisor to the Prime Minister (1984–1992) Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee (1985–1992) non-executive director, South China Morning Post (1996–2000)

Sir Percy Cradock GCMG PC (Chinese: 柯利達爵士, 26 October 1923 – 22 January 2010) was a British diplomat, civil servant and sinologist who served as British Ambassador to the People's Republic of China from 1978 to 1983, playing a significant role in the Sino-British negotiations which led up to the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984.

Joining the Foreign Office in 1954, Cradock served primarily in Asia and was posted to the British Chargé d'affaires Office in Peking (now Beijing) at the outset of the Cultural Revolution in 1966. He, along with other British subjects, was manhandled by the Red Guards and the mobs when the office was set on fire on 22 August 1967. After the rioting, Cradock served as Chargé d'affaires in Peking from 1968 to 1969, and later succeeded Sir Edward Youde as British Ambassador to the People's Republic of China in 1978. His ambassadorship witnessed the start of the Sino-British negotiations in 1982, which subsequently resulted in the Joint Declaration in 1984, an agreement deciding the future of the sovereignty of Hong Kong after 1997. However, the decision of Cradock, who was the British chief negotiator in the negotiations, to compromise with the Chinese authorities, was regarded as a major retreat by the general media in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom, and was heavily criticised at that time as betraying the people of Hong Kong.

Cradock remained a trusted advisor to the-then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, who appointed him as Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee in 1985. After the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, he was the first senior British official to pay a visit to the Chinese leadership in the hope of maintaining the much criticised Joint Declaration. He was successful in fighting to guarantee, in the Basic Law of Hong Kong, that half of the seats of the Legislative Council would be directly elected by 2007. However, Cradock worsened his relationship with Thatcher's successor, John Major, by forcing him to visit China in 1991 after the row between the two countries over the Airport Core Programme of Hong Kong. Major had enough of the compromising attitude of Cradock and the-then Governor of Hong Kong, Sir David Wilson, and finally decided to have both of them replaced in 1992, choosing instead his Conservative-ally Chris Patten as Governor.

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