AUSTRALIA/CHINA: Even in death Baroness Thatcher divides opinion with Australians and Chinese nationals sharing differing memories of the British Prime Minister

Record ID: 559658

  • Title: AUSTRALIA/CHINA: Even in death Baroness Thatcher divides opinion with Australians and Chinese nationals sharing differing memories of the British Prime Minister
  • Date: 9th April 2013
  • Summary: PHOTO OF MARGARET THATCHER
  • Embargoed: 24th April 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Australia, Hong Kong, China
  • City:
  • Country: Hong Kong China Australia
  • Topics: Obituaries,People
  • Reuters ID: LVA37AXHK8KZQU60TWY9K777FZKC
  • Story Text: Australian admirers and detractors remembered former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, the 1980s leader on the streets of Sydney, with the polarised views that were synonymous with her policies.
    Some said Thatcher was the right person at the right time.

    "When I heard that she'd died today I thought it was a great loss but that she had really pioneered the way for female politicians across the world to become leaders and it made me think twice about that and the fact that people like Julia Gillard are now in parliament because of somebody like Margaret Thatcher so I think she was a fantastic role model," said aviation industry manager Sally Long.
    But others remembered the deeply unpopular leader who divided Britain during her 11 years of premiership.

    "I think in the country itself the country is split. A lot of people will mourn her passing and a lot of people will say 'well she got really what she deserved'. I think that's a terrible thing to say but I think the feeling is so deep in the country that the socialist side of the country really feel that," said Bill MacKinder, a holiday maker from Manchester, expressing a view held by many in Britain's former industrial north.
    The British High Commission in Canberra and British Consulates across the country have opened books of condolences for Baroness Thatcher.
    Thatcher's death made front page news on most major newspapers in Hong Kong on Tuesday (April 9), with the English-language South China Morning Post leading with the headline calling her, "A Giant of the 20th Century".
    Sixteen years since Britain bade farewell to the colonial jewel it held for 156 years, people still remembered how Thatcher negotiated the return of Hong Kong to Communist China on July 1, 1997.

    "When I know her as a young girl. About the primary school lesson about to hear her, what her done about the Hong Kong relationship between Hong Kong and China so she is a very great woman. That's how I heard her," said nurse Cindy Tsui.
    Flags were flown at half mast on Tuesday at the British embassy in Beijing to mourn the "Iron Lady".
    The news of her death also made newspaper headlines in the Chinese capital.
    Some residents said they were grateful for her contributions to handing over Hong Kong to China.

    "My impression of her mainly came from text books. She once had fierce negotiations with grandpa Deng (Deng Xiaoping) over the issue of Hong Kong. Despite Ms. Thatcher's firm stance at first, we are grateful that she helped us get back Hong Kong in the end," said 25-year-old local resident Liu Huayang.
    Thatcher died on Monday (April 8), aged 87, after suffering a stroke.
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