The Everyday Cold War

In 1950 the British government accorded diplomatic recognition to the newly founded Peoples Republic of China. But it took 22 years for Britain to establish full diplomatic relations with China. How far was Britains China policy a failure until 1972? This book argues that Britain and China were involved in the everyday Cold War, or a continuous process of contestation and cooperation that allowed them to normalize their confrontation in the absence of full diplomatic relations. From Vietnam and Taiwan to the mainland and Hong Kong, Chinas everyday Cold War against Britain was marked by diplomatic ritual, propaganda rhetoric and symbolic gestures. Rather than pursuing a failed policy of appeasement, British decision-makers and diplomats regarded engagement or negotiation with China as the best way of fighting the everyday Cold War. Based on extensive British and Chinese archival sources, this book examines not only the high politics of Anglo-Chinese relations, but also how the British diplomats experienced the Cold War at the local level.