UK considered China nuclear strike
The UK considered threatening China with a nuclear strike if they invaded Hong Kong, previously secret papers have revealed.
In 1961 Britain believed a nuclear strike was the only option other than abandoning Hong Kong, should communist China attack.
The information has been revealed after letters circulated between the then prime minister Harold Macmillan, the defence minister Harold Watkinson, and foreign secretary Sir Alec Douglas-Home were made public.
“It must be fully obvious to the Americans that Hong Kong is indefensible by conventional means and that in the event of a Chinese attack, nuclear strikes against China would be the only alternative to complete abandonment of the colony,” Sir Alec wrote.
“In these circumstances it is perhaps not so much formal staff talks with the Americans that we need so much as an informal exchange of views involving a discussion of the use of nuclear strikes.
“I need hardly say, however, that I agree entirely with your view that while we should encourage the Chinese to believe that an attack on Hong Kong would involve nuclear retaliation, we must avoid anything that would allow the Chinese to claim that the Colony is a military outpost of the United States.”
It is not clear from the letters, written between 1957 and 1961, who originally mooted the plan.
In another letter, defence minister Mr Watkinson wrote: “Our object is to encourage the Chinese to believe that an attack on Hong Kong would involve US nuclear retaliation.”
Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997, after 155 years as a British colony.
