UK feared mass Hong Kong exodus in handover run-up, planned for ‘Armageddon scenario’
Newly unsealed UK government documents from 1989 show extent of evacuation planning in lead-up to Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule
The UK government prepared a secret contingency plan dubbed “the Armageddon scenario” in the lead-up to the 1997 handover for the evacuation of millions of Hong Kong residents who might have wanted to flee the city, according to newly unsealed documents.
The British national archive documents date back to 1989 in the period immediately preceding and following the Tiananmen Square crackdown. A number of scenarios and recommendations for UK authorities were outlined in the event Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule triggered an exodus of people from the city.
The documents, which were made public on Tuesday UK time, stated that the United Kingdom could “not handle a mass evacuation alone” and that other countries would need to help, highlighting the United States as “particularly important”.
Repeated references were made to the “Official Group on Contingency Planning for Hong Kong”, which was said to have been formed following then prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s meeting with the governor of Hong Kong on June 8, 1989.
The governor at the time was David Wilson.
The internal communications, labelled “secret”, categorised the plan into three scenarios – green, amber and red.