Office of the Historian

262. Memorandum From the Assistant Legal Adviser for East Asian and Pacific Affairs (Aldrich) to the Department of State Legal Adviser (Meeker)1

Washington, May 16, 1967.

SUBJECT

  • Hong Kong Defense Commitments

The USG has no firm commitments to act in defense of Hong Kong, so far as we can determine. The NATO Treaty area is limited to Europe, North America and the North Atlantic, and the SEATO Treaty area appears to have been specifically delineated to exclude Hong Kong.

However, Mr. Livingston Merchant, on December 1, 1960, advised British Ambassador Caccia that “it went without saying that were the British to be threatened or attacked there [at Hong Kong],2 we would give them such support as seemed appropriate at the time.” Subsequently, Admiral Felt was authorized to discuss defense plans with Lord Mountbatten, but Mountbatten “made no attempt to find out what Cincpac might be able to do” and Felt did not volunteer information. British staff officers did advise their U.S. counterparts in March 1961 that they had done all they could “to convince the ChiComs that if they attacked Hong Kong, that U.S. would respond with nuclear weapons.” According to Admiral Felt, his staff listened.

A working group has been recently constituted to update the 1962 Hong Kong policy paper,3 which now contemplates the use of U.S. forces for emergency evacuation. It further provides that we would, “In the event of an actual Chinese Communist attack on Hong Kong or an outbreak of major civil disorders there having the direct support of the Chinese Communists, undertake to provide such military assistance as may be judged appropriate in the light of the conditions at the time, including the British response, the extent of hostilities (i.e., whether limited to Hong Kong or of a wider scope), and actions which might be proposed by the United Nations.”

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, DEF 15 HK. Top Secret. Drafted by Mark B. Feldman of L/EA. The source text is stamped “Mr. Bundy has seen.”↩
  2. Brackets in the source text.↩
  3. Reference is to a paper entitled “Hong Kong: Guidelines for Policy and Operations,” prepared by the Department of State in consultation with other interested departments and agencies and issued in November 1962. The portion quoted is subparagraph 2.c.(iii) in Section IV, “Lines of Action.” (Ibid., Policy Guidelines: Lot 67 D 396, Hong Kong)↩