On September 24, 1982, Deng Xiaoping met Margaret Thatcher in the Great Hall of the People to discuss Hong Kong. According to People’s Daily, he told her that “one or two years at the latest,” China would formally announce its decision to take back Hong Kong.
The talks that followed ran to 22 rounds. A Chinese account of July 1984, when the talks were stuck, refers to the “original two-year period” set for the negotiations.