U.K. 'planned for nuclear strike on
China'
LONDON, June 30,2006 (UPI) -- Britain planned for a nuclear
retaliation should China invade its then-colony of Hong Kong,
confidential papers released Friday reveal.
In 1961, London felt the only alternative to abandoning the colony
entirely would be nuclear strikes against the Chinese aggressor by
the United States, documents published by the National Archives
indicate.
The idea is discussed in a series of letters between 1957 and 1961,
when the government was becoming increasingly anxious about
Beijing's intentions towards the British outpost.
Then Defense Minister Harold Watkinson wrote to the foreign
secretary and Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, saying: "Our object
is to encourage the Chinese to believe than an attack on Hong Kong
would involve U.S. nuclear retaliation."
Foreign Secretary Sir Alec Douglas-Hume wrote to Watkinson and
Macmillan in February 1961: "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."
He called for an "informal exchange of views" with U.S. officials
over the possibility of nuclear strikes.
The idea was discussed by British and U.S. officials during secret
meetings in Hawaii, but was apparently shelved after Admiral Harry
Felt, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet at the time, expressed
concerns.
No other response from the United States -- then the only country
capable of using nuclear weapons -- was included in the National
Archives file.
Britain returned Hong Kong to China in 1997, having held it since
1842.
search Harold Macmillan on news u will get more.
2.The dangers of history is that you will only know history years
later,
if we survive the next nuke war---or the last nuke war.