On this day, 34 years ago, on March 18, 1991 (February 3, 1991 in the lunar calendar), Britain handed over Gibraltar's military defense to Spain. On March 18, 1991, Britain officially handed over the military defense of Gibraltar, thus ending the 287-year territorial dispute between Britain and Spain. Gibraltar is located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula and was ceded to the United Kingdom by Spain in 1713. It covers an area of 5.8 square kilometers and has a current population of approximately 29000. For more than two centuries, Spain has never given up its demand to recover Gibraltar. After World War II, Spain stepped up recovery activities. Since 1964, the United Nations has repeatedly called on the Spanish and British governments to negotiate a settlement of the dispute over Gibraltar, but the United Kingdom has always emphasized that it has legal sovereignty over Gibraltar and should respect the will of the Gibraltar people. Spain and Britain have held multiple rounds of dialogue and negotiations on the Gibraltar dispute, but the two sides 'principled positions have always been far apart before.