ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on British policy and relations with China between 1965 and 1967, a period when the Vietnam War escalated and the radical phase of the Chinese Cultural Revolution was underway. The Cold War encounter between Britain and China appeared insignificant and uneventful: the relationship was not vital to their national interests, and was not characterized by high drama as compared with the Sino–American confrontation. The British diplomatic outpost in Shanghai was particularly vulnerable to Chinese pressure. The radicalism of the Cultural Revolution spilled over into Hong Kong, where left-wing elements exploited an industrial dispute to launch large-scale anti-colonial riots. The Chinese diplomats posted to Western European countries had always felt that they were ‘sitting on a cold bench’ in a hostile Cold War environment.
