Hong Kong Came Close to Becoming American

On December 25, 1941, the colonial government of Hong Kong officially surrendered to the Japanese armed forces following the Battle of Hong Kong. The ensuing occupation of the British colony would last for a grueling three years and eight months.

August 1945, however, marked a definitive turning point in the war. After the US Army Air Forces dropped two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan officially surrendered on September 2, 1945, bringing an end to the Second World War in East Asia.

Although Liberation Day took place in Hong Kong three days prior, the city's post-war reality could have been vastly different from the one we know today. On August 11, 1945, as Japan prepared to accept unconditional surrender, a race began between the British Navy, the Chinese Nationalists, and American forces to secure the occupied territory.

US General Douglas MacArthur's General Order No. 1 dictated that Japanese forces in China—including Hong Kong—should surrender to Chiang Kai-shek. Admiral Chester Nimitz, on the other hand, planned to establish a US military base and a temporary military government in Hong Kong, similar to post-war Okinawa.

The British, however, refused to yield the colony, and US President Harry Truman ultimately prioritized a stable alliance with Great Britain to counter the growing Soviet and Communist influence in China. Consequently, British Rear-Admiral Cecil Harcourt set sail with a naval task force on August 27 to officially re-establish British control, landing in Hong Kong three days later.