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.
