ABSTRACT
This chapter has three main aims. The first is to review, retrospectively, British perceptions of the threat from China to the interests of the United Kingdom (UK) from 1945 to 1997. This period begins with the end of the Second World War and culminates with the retrocession of Hong Kong.1
The second aim is to examine the report of the Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) of the British House of Commons, published in November 2000, for evidence of current British perceptions of the threat from China.2 The significance of the FAC report lies in its being the first from that important cross-party committee of Members of Parliament (MPs) since the retrocession of Hong Kong. The third aim is to draw tentative conclusions from the trends evident in the chronological review and the documentary examination that may offer pointers to sources for threat perception in Anglo-Chinese relations in the early twenty-first century.
