In the final two minutes before Hong Kong officially became a part of the People's Republic of China on July 1, 1997, the student union at Chalmers University of Technology made an unsuccessful attempt to rent the territory. Anders Eriksson, who was serving as president of the union at the time, explained that the goal was to create a space for democracy in the municipality. The intention was to hold a referendum on the future of Hong Kong in tents that were going to be set up in the territory that had just been rented out.
On the other hand, the Swedish government promptly put a stop to the proposal, stating that it would not acknowledge the results of any referendum of this kind.