Plausibility Check: Sino-British War in the 1960s-1970s

The 1960s was troublesome for China, with one of the worst cultural disasters (The Cultural Revolution) happening in 1966. Hong Kong was affected by the disaster, with the Leftist Riots of 1967 causing the deaths of 51 individuals. Is there any possibility that the United Kingdom went into war against China over the riots, with or without assistance of Portugal (Motim 1-2-3 happened in Portuguese Macau in 1966)? And if so, can NATO avoid being dragged into such a war? What could be the consequences of such a war?

And even if no war happened, was it possible that Hong Kong ended up purging leftists?
 
If the British/Portugees/Chineese Officials keep there cool no way, but when some zealots get it in their head to "liberate Hong Kong/Macau and try to storm the place, all bets are of.
 
I don't think NATO would be involved.

The war would be in neither nation's interests as war would render Hong Kong useless for both sides.

Still, it the PLA tried to treat it like Goa, well I think Britain would fight. I'm not sure how much Britain could do, although the Royal Navy would be able to overwhelm China's naval assets such as they are, and they could probably harass the coast effectively, the USSR and the KMT would be spoiling for a fight as well so anything could have happened if the Americans don't put too much pressure to stop it. Given US involvement in Vietnam distracting the PRC is not a bad thing, but there are concerns about how much influence this could give Moscow.
 
I don't think NATO would be involved.

The war would be in neither nation's interests as war would render Hong Kong useless for both sides.

Still, it the PLA tried to treat it like Goa, well I think Britain would fight. I'm not sure how much Britain could do, although the Royal Navy would be able to overwhelm China's naval assets such as they are, and they could probably harass the coast effectively, the USSR and the KMT would be spoiling for a fight as well so anything could have happened if the Americans don't put too much pressure to stop it. Given US involvement in Vietnam distracting the PRC is not a bad thing, but there are concerns about how much influence this could give Moscow.

From what I could tell, if Britain (and maybe Portugal) end up fighting China, less support could be given by China to help Vietnam. America might be the winner in the Vietnam War.
As for the Soviets? parts of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang might fall to Soviet/ Mongolian/ DPRK hands if Moscow decides attack China, given a frozen relationship between the PRC and the Soviet Union in the 1960s...

maybe USSR and UK will jointly punish CHina?

A joint punishment between the UK and the Soviet Union? With a non-aggression pact, maybe. I'd say Britain might bring in Portugal to get themselves a better deal (who has superior firepower?).
 

destiple

Banned
Was the RN in lets say 1974 able to defeat the chinese navy ? I mean the latter had a huge advantage in numbers
what kind of a task force would RN put togather ?
and what will chinese naval and air response would be ?
 
Was the RN in lets say 1974 able to defeat the chinese navy ? I mean the latter had a huge advantage in numbers
what kind of a task force would RN put togather ?
and what will chinese naval and air response would be ?
It depends on the scenario; is there a Transition To War phase between China and the UK or do the Chinese use events to achieve relative strategic surprise?
 
The RUSI war games that took place in 2016 gave a blue water victory to a RN action against China (though they are screwed in the littorals). And that's after three decades of ramping up kit and training.

The Chinese have absolutely no answer to rn diesel subs and SSNs in the 60s and 70s.

UK institutes a naval blockade if HK is occupied.
 

destiple

Banned
I think chinese will only fight in a littoral enviorment not as a blue water navy as they simply did not have that capability at that time

where can I find this RUSI war game ?
 
I'd almost say the earlier the war starts the better the RN do. If it were to start in 1960 then hell even HMS Vanguard might be sent.
 
The RUSI war games that took place in 2016 gave a blue water victory to a RN action against China (though they are screwed in the littorals). And that's after three decades of ramping up kit and training.

Can you provide a link to any discussion on that? I'm very interested. All I can find is a tiny paragraph on the RUSI site saying "War game tests power of leaner British army" with no further discussion, and that seems to be army rather than navy.
 
Um I was working with RUSI at the time but I know the report was published in Jane's - it seems suprisingly hard to find, I think RUSI have moved a bunch of content for commerciality reasons.

In summary it found that at a point equidistant from the other the British would win in land sea a d air because of a lack of force projection capability of the Chinese and the wargames themselves just had a bunch of Astutes sinking everything the Chinese had over a few days (no nuclear death charges were allowed).
 

kernals12

Banned
The US would almost certainly intervene. LBJ would remove all restraints with regard to attacks outside of South Vietnam. The Soviets would be delighted about China getting drawn into a conflict and may even launch their own attacks.
 

destiple

Banned
lets say it remains RN vs Chinese navy
how effective will chinese ASW tactics would be in the littorals ? esp interested in effectiveness of RBU rocket saturation attacks in littoral waters
 
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