Vietnam War tourists: US Naval visits to Hong Kong and British-American-Chinese relations, 1965–1968

Abstract

At the height of the Vietnam War, Communist China repeatedly lodged diplomatic protests with the British government about US naval visits to Hong Kong. Believing that the Chinese protests were nothing but propaganda and were as much about the Sino-Soviet split as about Sino-American and Sino-British relations per se, British officials decided that the visits of US servicemen for rest and recreation should continue, albeit within the framework of new Anglo-American guidelines. By examining the British handling of the question of US naval visits, this article reveals the interactions of the four Cold War powers concerned as well as a broader global phenomenon in the mid-1960s – the growth of anti-Americanism. The case of Hong Kong suggests that the ‘Vietnam War tourists’, who were well disciplined and economically valuable, were not ‘ugly Americans’ but ‘beautiful imperialists’.

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank the British Academy for funding my research project on ‘Anglo-Chinese Relations, 1950–72: Cold War, Post-imperialism, and Colonialism’, on which this article is based.

Notes

Chi-kwan Mark is Lecturer in International History at Royal Holloway, University of London. He is author of Hong Kong and the Cold War: Anglo-American Relations 1949–1957, published by Oxford University Press in 2004. He is currently working on a project on Anglo-Chinese relations during the Cold War, combining international, national and local perspectives.

  [1] Anderson, The Columbia Guide to the Vietnam War, 286.

  [2] On the question of anti-Americanism during the Cold War, see contributions to AHR Forum: ‘Historical Perspectives on Anti-Americanism’, The American Historical Review, 111, no. 4 (October 2006), especially Cohen and Tucker, ‘America in Asian Eyes’; Friedman, ‘Anti-Americanism and U.S. Foreign Relations’.

  [3] See Suri, Power and Protest, 164–212.

  [4] Klein, Cold War Orientalism, 100–42; Endy, Cold War Holidays.

  [5] See Carroll, A Concise History of Hong Kong, 148–61.

  [6] Lu and Lu, Xianggang jingji shi, 213–14; Hong Kong Government, Hong Kong: Report for the Year 1967, 53–4.

  [7] Far Eastern Economic Review, LIV, no. 3 (20 October 1966), ‘The United States and Asia (A 40-page special survey)’, 145–9; Tucker, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the United States, 226–30.

  [8] Hong Kong Tourist Association, Hong Kong Tourist Association Annual Report 1966/7, 9 and 21.

  [9] Hazell, The Tourist Industry in Hong Kong.

 [10] United States National Archives (USNA), College Park, Maryland, USA, Record Group (RG) 59, Office of Chinese Affairs, 1945–55, Reel 19, CINCPACFLT Briefing Pamphlet No. 9-54, April 1954.

 [11] Operational Archives Branch, Naval Historical Center, Washington Navy Yard, USA, Post 1946 Reports, Seventh Fleet April 1946–53, Box 38, Commander of Seventh Fleet to Chief of Naval Operations, 1 December 1953. Also see 9 August 1955 and 1 August 1956.

 [12] United Kingdom National Archives (UKNA), Kew, Surrey, UK, FCO 21/550, Minute by Gaminara, 18 October 1968; FCO 40/56, Hong Kong (HK) to Commonwealth Office, 17 March 1967, no. 353; CO 1030/1557, HK to Colonial Office, 8 September 1965, no. 1160.

 [13] Melson (ed.), White Ensign, 119; Coe, Eagles and Dragons, 176.

 [14] Luk, ‘Hong Kong as City/Imaginary’, 74–5.

 [15] Hacker, Wanchai, 100–1.

 [16] Quoted in Coe, Eagles and Dragons, 184.

 [17] The Hong Kong Tourist Association, Hong Kong Travel Bulletin, vii, no. 10, October 1965, and viii, no. 7, July 1966; The New York Times (NYT), ‘Americans in Hong Kong: Troops from Vietnam and Civilian Tourists Help to Rank Crown Colony First Among the Pacific's Ports of Call’, 26 February 1967.

 [18] Enloe, Bananas, Beaches and Bases, 35–6; Moon, Sex among Allies, 32–4; Baker, American Soldiers Overseas, 114–6, 131–4.

 [19] The locals referred to foreigners as ‘gweilo’ or ‘foreign devils’. But the term was more often uttered in ‘a neutral, ironic, or even an affectionate way’ and by no means embodied anti-foreignism. Holdsworth, Foreign Devils.

 [20] Lee, City between Worlds, 93.

 [21] Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library (LBJL), Austin, Texas, USA, National Security File (NSF), Country File, China (CFC), vol. v, Box 239, HK to State Department, no. A-454, 7 January 1966.

 [22] LBJL, NSF, CFC, vol. iii, Box 240, HK to State Department, no. A-432, 27 January 1967; USNA, RG 59, Central Foreign Policy Files (CFPF) 1967–69, Box 2176, HK to State Department, no. A-493, 24 February 1967.

 [23] University of Hong Kong, Main Library Special Collections, Hong Kong Tourism Board Collection, Box 99, ‘R&R Hong Kong’, Pamphlet (undated).

 [24] Love, Jr., History of the U.S. Navy, 496.

 [25] UKNA, FO 371/180973, Willan to Carter, 6 May 1965; Cagle, ‘Task Force 77’, 20–3.

 [26] UKNA, DEFE 11/537, HK to Colonial Office, no. 1042, 20 August 1965.

 [27] UKNA, DEFE 11/537, HK to Colonial Office, no. 975, 12 August 1965; no. 1042, 20 August 1965.

 [28] Nan and Nan, Zhou Enlai shangping, 812–14; Jin, Zhonggong Xianggang, 2–5.

 [29] UKNA, CO 1030/1674, HK to Colonial Office, no. 964, 11 August 1965.

 [30] Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS), 1964–68, vol. ii: Vietnam, January–June 1965, ‘Editorial Note’, 700–701. Also see Hershberg and Chen, ‘Reading and Warning the Likely Enemy’.

 [31] UKNA, DEFE 11/537, HK to Colonial Office, no. 965, 11 August 1965 (emphasis original).

 [32] Zhou, Zhou Enlai waijiao wenxuan, 79–86; Wang et al. , Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo, 386–94.

 [33] UKNA, FO 371/181001, Beijing to Foreign Office, no. 490, 15 April 1965.

 [34] Young, ‘The Wilson Government’; Dumbrell, A Special Relationship, 188–96.

 [35] UKNA, PREM 13/694, Beijing to Foreign Office, no. 476, 12 April 1965; PREM 13/690, Beijing to Foreign Office, no. 800, 20 June 1965; no. 808, 22 June 1965.

 [36] Zhai, China and the Vietnam Wars, 157–75.

 [37] NYT, 24 August 1965.

 [38] UKNA, DEFE 11/537, HK to Colonial Office, no. 1073, 25 August 1965.

 [39] UKNA, FCO 40/56, Beijing to Foreign Office, no. 1070, 1 September 1965.

 [40] Preston, Aircraft Carriers, 60.

 [41] Love, Jr., History of the U.S. Navy, 522; Cagle, ‘Task Force 77’, 27–8.

 [42] UKNA, PREM 13/1253, Beijing to Foreign Office, no. 73, 28 January 1966.

 [43] UKNA, DEFE 11/537, Beijing to Foreign Office, no. 88 and no. 89, 1 February 1966.

 [44] UKNA, DEFE 11/537, Beijing to Foreign Office, no. 89, 1 February 1966; PREM 13/1253, Beijing to Foreign Office, no. 76, 29 January 1966.

 [45] See Lüthi, The Sino-Soviet Split; 302–39; Li, ‘The Sino-Soviet Dispute’, 289–318.

 [46] Fursenko and Naftali, Khrushchev's Cold War, 415; Lüthi, The Sino-Soviet Split, 232.

 [47] UKNA, CO 1030/1674, Wallace to Poynton, 2 December 1963.

 [48] UKNA, FCO 21/66, 4/1/1967, Bolland to Elliott, 12 January 1967; USNA, RG 59, CFPF, 1964–66, Box 2269, HK to State Department, no. A-610, 9 March 1966. Also see Share, Where Empires Collided, 141–4.

 [49] UKNA, FCO 40/56, Text of reply to Chinese Note of 1 September 1965.

 [50] China Mail, 6 September 1965; NYT, 16 September 1965.

 [51] USNA, RG 59, CFPF, 1964–66, Box 1637, HK to State Department, no. CA-211, 8 July 1966; State Department to HK, no. 1234, 30 March 1966; State Department to HK, no. 1348, 22 April 1966.

 [52] UKNA, FCO 40/59, ‘Guide-lines for use of Facilities in Hong Kong by U.S. Armed Forces (as agreed on 31^st May, 1966)’.

 [53] UKNA, FCO 40/59, Holford to Hyland, 23 February 1966.

 [54] From their writings, speeches and conversations with Vietnamese and world leaders between late 1965 and 1966, Mao and Zhou never mentioned US naval visits to Hong Kong, thus apparently showing the lack of a genuine worry about the issue. See Li et al. , Zhou Enlai nianpu, vol. 2, 754–70, and vol. 3, 1–105; Westad et al. (eds.), ‘77 Conversations between Chinese and Foreign Leaders’, 54–63; Mao, Jianguo yilai, vol. 11, 447–504, and vol. 12, 1–183.

 [55] See Li et al. , Zhou Enlai nianpu, vol. 2, 750, 769; vol. 3, 5.

 [56] Schulzinger, ‘The Johnson Administration’, 249.

 [57] See Hershberg and Chen, ‘Reading and Warning the Likely Enemy’.

 [58] UKNA, FO 371/186297, Minute by Bolland, 5 July 1966; Beijing to Foreign Office, no. 515, 4 July 1966.

 [59] UKNA, FCO 21/73, Elliott to Bolland, 27 January 1967.

 [60] LBJL, White House Central Files, Confidential File, Box 9, Memo by Rostow to Johnson, 6 October 1966; NSF, CFC, vol. vi, Box 239, HK to State Department, A-114, 26 August 1966.

 [61] USNA, RG 59, CFPF, 1964–66, Box 2269, HK to State Department, no. A-183, 23 September 1966.

 [62] NYT, 1 December 1968; Melson, White Ensign, 115–16.

 [63] UKNA, FCO 21/216, HK to Commonwealth Office, no. 1, 1 January 1967; Minute by Bolland, 25 January 1967.

 [64] UKNA, FCO 21/216, HK to Commonwealth Office, no. 58, 14 January 1967; no. 94, 22 January 1967.

 [65] For the Chinese note, see UKNA, FCO 40/56, Beijing to Foreign Office, no. 311, 21 March 1967.

 [66] UKNA, FCO 40/56, Beijing to Foreign Office, no. 312, 21 March 1967; FCO 21/216, Minute by Bolland, 22 March.

 [67] See Scott, Political Change, 96–106; Cradock, Experiences of China, 56–71.

 [68] UKNA, FCO 21/217, HK to Commonwealth Office, no. 639, 18 May 1967.

 [69] Sing Tao Yat Pao, 19 May 1967; People's Daily, 19 May 1967. The local newspaper articles used in this article are obtained from the Hong Kong Baptist University Library's Special Collections and Archives. I wish to thank Irene Wong for helping me to locate them.

 [70] UKNA, FCO 21/217, HK to Commonwealth Office, no. 639, 18 May 1967; no. 654, 20 May 1967; no. 669, 23 May 1967.

 [71] UKNA, FCO 21/217, HK to Commonwealth Office, no. 635, 18 May 1967.

 [72] UKNA, FCO 21/217, HK to Commonwealth Office, no. 639, 18 May 1967.

 [73] UKNA, FCO 21/217, HK to Commonwealth Office, no. 835, 14 June 1967.

 [74] Barnouin and Yu, Zhou Enlai, 261; Ma, Waijiaobu, 155–63.

 [75] Sing Tao Wan Pao, 18 June 1967; Wah Kiu Yat Pao, 18 June 1967.

 [76] UKNA, FCO 21/216, Minute by Bolland, 25 January 1967; FCO 21/217, Wilford to Carter, 27 July 1967.

 [77] USNA, RG 59, CFPF, 1964–66, Box 2268, HK to State Department, no. A-832, 3 April 1964; UKNA, FCO 21/216, HK to Commonwealth Office, no. 219, 18 February 1967.

 [78] UKNA, FCO 21/217, HK to Commonwealth Office, no. 835, 14 June 1967.

 [79] LBJL, NSF, Files of Alfred Jenkins (FAJ), Box 3, Hughes to Rusk, Research Memorandum: ‘The Confrontation in Hong Kong: Its Past and Its Future’, 16 November 1967.

 [80] See Dockrill, Britain's Retreat from East of Suez; Jones, ‘A Decision Delayed’.

 [81] UKNA, FCO 21/217, Washington to Foreign Office, no. 1777, 25 May 1967.

 [82] UKNA, CAB 134/2945, K(67) 1^st Meeting, 24 July 1967; FCO 21/217, Minute by Bolland, 24 July 1967.

 [83] LBJL, NSF, FAJ, Box 1, ‘Politico-Military Contingency Study Hong Kong’, attached in Jenkins to Rostow, 21 July 1967; FRUS, 1964–68, vol. xxx: China, 568, State Department to HK, 18 May 1967.

 [84] NYT, 24 May 1967; 1 June 1967.

 [85] Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Abilene, Kansas, USA, Columbia University Oral History Project, Oral History Interview with Edward Rice, 11 December 1972, 70.

 [86] UKNA, FCO 21/218, HK to Commonwealth Office, no. 739, 10 June 1968.

 [87] UKNA, FCO 21/217, HK to Commonwealth Office, no. 560, 4 May 1968.

 [88] UKNA, FCO 21/217, Beijing to Foreign Office, no. 443, 17 May 1968.

 [89] Mark, ‘Hostage Diplomacy’.

 [90] UKNA, FCO 21/217, HK to Commonwealth Office, no. 630, 18 May 1968; no. 637, 20 May 1968.

 [91] UKNA, FCO 21/217, Minute by Murray, 20 May 1968.

 [92] UKNA, FCO 21/217, Beijing to Foreign Office, no. 487 and no. 488, 27 May 1968.

 [93] UKNA, FCO 21/218, HK to Commonwealth Office, no. 739, 10 June 1968; FCO 21/217, Minute by Murray, 6 June 1968.

 [94] Zhai, China and the Vietnam Wars, 176–80.

 [95] UKNA, FCO 21/218, Reply by Office of British Chargé in Beijing to Chinese Foreign Ministry, 18 June 1968.

 [96] UKNA, FCO 21/217, Beijing to Foreign Office, no. 488, 27 May 1968.

 [97] UKNA, FCO 21/217, HK to Commonwealth Office, no. 670, 25 May 1967.

 [98] The South China Morning Post (SCMP), 31 May 1968. Also see 29 May 1968.

 [99] See Wittner, The Struggle against the Bomb.

[100] UKNA, FCO 21/217, Davies to Cradock, 25 January 1968.

[101] Schaller, Altered States, 207; Baker, American Soldiers Overseas, 73.

[102] See Suri, Power and Protest.

[103] Dirlik, ‘The Third World’, 314.

[104] UKNA, FCO 21/217, HK to Commonwealth Office, no. 749, 12 June 1968; FO 371/180973, Carter to Timms, 19 February 1965.

[105] Pepper, Keeping Democracy at Bay, 159.

[106] See Undergrad, session 1965, no. 3, 28 February 1965; no. 5, 31 March 1965; no. 7, 29 July 1965; session 1966, no. 3, 16 February 1966; session 1967, no. 4, 15 March 1967; no. 13, 16 October 1967.

[107] Undergrad, session 1967, no. 13, 16 October 1967.

[108] Undergrad, session 1968, no. 7, 1 April 1968.

[109] Ng, ‘The Founding’, 5–16; Tucker, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the United States, 226–7.

[110] UKNA, FCO 21/68, Beijing to Foreign Office, no. 526, 5 June 1968.

[111] UKNA, FCO 21/217, Beijing to Foreign Office, no. 511, 31 May 1968; FCO 21/218, Beijing to Foreign Office, no. 564, 14 June 1968.

[112] UKNA, FCO 21/218, Washington to Foreign Office, no. 2062, 5 July 1968.

[113] UKNA, FCO 21/218, HK to Commonwealth Office, no. 883, 12 July 1968.

[114] UKNA, FCO 21/218, Minute by Murray, 31 July 1968; Commonwealth Office to HK, no. 1346, 2 August 1968.

[115] USNA, RG 59, CFPF, 1967–69, Box 1550, State Department to HK, no. 227164, 24 August 1968; no. 238421, 13 September 1968.

[116] UKNA, FCO 21/218, HK to Commonwealth Office, no. 1012, 21 August 1968; FCO 40/59, Maddocks to Carter, 3 October 1968.

[117] USNA, RG 59, CFPF, 1967–69, Box 1550, HK to State Department, no. 821, 29 October 1968.

[118] USNA, RG 59, CFPF, 1967–69, Box 1550, State Department to HK, no. 283442, 3 December 1968.

[119] UKNA, FCO 21/550, Foreign and Commonwealth Office to HK, no. 98, 4 February 1969; Maddocks to Murray, 6 March 1969; McLaren to Wilson, 10 April 1969.

[120] USNA, RG 59, Subject Numeric File, 1970–73, Box 2349, no. A-285, HK to State Department, 4 October 1971.

[121] SCMP, 14 June 1973; 20 December 1973.

[122] Mao, Mao Zedong on Diplomacy , 429.

[123] Zhang, ‘Between “Paper” and “Real Tigers”’.

[124] Lewis and Xue, China's Strategic Seapower.

[125] Shambaugh, ‘China's Propaganda System’, 26–7; Ma, Waijiaobu, 132–6.

[126] See Pepper, Keeping Democracy at Bay; Leung, ‘The Student Movement in Hong Kong’, 209–25.

[127] The two terms are originally used in different contexts by Lederer and Burdick in The Ugly American and Shambaugh in Beautiful Imperialist respectively.