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In 1984 the British government signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration with China and agreed to turn over Hong Kong and its dependencies in 1997. British rule ended on 30 June 1997, with China taking over at midnight, 1 July 1997 (at end of the 99-year lease over the New Territories, along with the ceded Hong Kong Island and Kowloon).
With 1997 approaching, the United Kingdom and China negotiated the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which led to the whole of Hong Kong becoming a special administrative region of China in 1997, subject to various conditions intended to guarantee the preservation of Hong Kong's capitalist economy and its way of life under British rule for at ...
The situations in two countries differ from the others. The government of the unrecognised state of Rhodesia proclaimed its allegiance to Elizabeth II as Queen of Rhodesia from 1965 to 1970. However, she did not accept either the role or the title and it was not accepted or recognised by any other state.
There are currently 15 Commonwealth realms scattered across three continents (nine in North America, five in Oceania, and one in Europe), with a combined area of 18.7 million km 2 (7.2 million sq mi) [note 1] (excluding the Antarctic claims which would raise the figure to 26.8 million km 2 (10.3 million sq mi)) and a population of more than 150 million.
Around 60 countries gained independence from the United Kingdom throughout its history, the most in the world, followed by around 40 countries that gained independence from France throughout its history. [2] Over 50% of the world's borders today were drawn as a result of British and French imperialism. [3] [4] [5]
Elizabeth II remained traditional (though unofficial) Paramount Chief until 2012, when the informal links with the British monarchy have been terminated. New Zealand (2003) – court of final appeal transferred from the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council to the Supreme Court of New Zealand , which was created in 2004.
The 2014 Life & Times Survey addressed this to an extent by choosing two of the options from the identity question: British and Irish. It found that, while 28% of respondents stated they felt "British not Irish" and 26% felt "Irish not British", 39% of respondents felt some combination of both identities. Six percent chose 'other description'.
The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary association of 56 sovereign states, referred to as Commonwealth countries. [1] Most of them were British colonies or dependencies of those colonies . No government in the Commonwealth exercises power over the others, as is the case in a political union .