The Anglo-Chinese War was a conflict which broke out on October 19th, 2022 when Chinese Forces launched invasions of the British colonies of Hong Kong, Macau and Malaysia. The Chinese Government cited the reason behind the war was to combat British Imperialism in South-East Asia. However the British colonies in South-East Asia heavily favoured British rule. Britain would eventually liberate all the colonies within a year and lead to a Chinese surrender.
Prelude[]
10 years prior to the beginning of the war seen the collapse of the Chinese economy. This lead to a great depleation in Chinese economic and military power and dwindled its influence on the global stage. The then growing British Empire took advantage of a weakening China by invading and seizing the Chinese territories of Hong Kong and Macau, which were both previous colonies and who highly favoured British rule. Due to the lack of military strength, the Chinese Government ceded the lands to the British Empire.
After capturing Hong Kong and Macau, the British Empire invaded Malaysia to re-establish a colony there. The invasion was seen by the Chinese Government as a direct threat to Chinese independence. However Britain assured that they would no further their growth in the Asian area.
During this time, the now growing French Empire, re-established colonies in Indo-China right along the Chinese border. The Chinese Government secretly began rebuilding its military and prepared to re-take Hong Kong and Macau and remove the British from Malaysia.
The British established military installations in Hong Kong and Malaysia. Moving several fleets of the Royal Navy and squadrons of the Royal Air Force to protect the colonies. However due to the weakened Chinese, Britain felt the colonies were safe and lacked adequate investment into their defense.
Invasion of Hong Kong and Macau[]
On the morning of October 19th, 2022, the Chinese Defense Forces invaded the small British Colonies of Hong Kong and Macau, capturing both British Air Bases and Naval Bases on the colonies. The British had stationed just 10 thousand troops in the colonies and they were quickly overrun by the army of nearly 60 thousand Chinese soldiers. The then Governor of Hong Kong ordered for the British troops to evacuate through HMNB Hong Kong. The British had 12 warships at its Hong Kong Naval Base and they managed to evacuate all 10 thousand soldiers from Hong Kong, preventing capture. Because Macau had no military presence, its police force was the only entity that was defending from the invasion and they quickly surrendered. The Royal Air Force Base in Hong Kong destroyed all of the 78 aircraft stationed there before evacuating via the harbor on Royal Navy ships.
The Chinese Government planned the invasion to make sure that it would occur while London was asleep. When the invasion occurred, it was 3 am in London and many at the Defense Ministry were asleep, this caused for a lack of response. In fact, the Defense Ministry was not even alerted of the invasions until nearly 30 minutes after both Hong Kong and Macau fell.
Invasion of Malaysia[]
The British held several colonies in South-East Asia and Malaysia was the largest and most populated. China knew that it would have to capture the largest British Colony in the region to force the British to surrender their holdings in the region.
After the invasion of Hong Kong and Malaysia, the British Armed Forces were placed on high alert and the Colonial Defenses Forces of Malaysia and Singapore were placed on a war footing and prepared to defend the colonies. Within 5 hours of the capture of Hong Kong and Macau, Chinese Forces launched a massive invasion of Malaysia consisting of nearly 500 thousand soldiers. Combined British troops and Colonial Militia's in Malaysia only numbered 35,000 and they were quickly overrun. The British suffered heavy casualties but refused to surrender to the Chinese. Many on the Western half of Malaysia pulled back to Singapore, but in the East, they were forced to eventually surrender to the Chinese Forces. Nearly 12 thousand were taken as POW's and evacuated to Chinese Camps.
Within 25 hours, Malaysia had fallen and the British had suffered tremendous loses and defeat. When news broke about the fall of the three British Colonies, many thought that it was the end of the expansion of the Empire and that Britain would be forced to cede the colonies to China. However, the Prime Minister pledged to liberate the colonies, not for Britain or the Empire, but for the freedom of the people who live in these colonies, who deserve stability and strong British Rule.
Quiet Times[]
Following the fall of Hong Kong, Macau and Malaysia, the British expected attacks on Singapore and Australia and prepared heavily to defend them. The British Empire sent 300 thousand additional troops to Australia and 15 thousand to Singapore. The Royal Navy was dispatched to sent almost 30 vessels to Singapore to evacuate the troops if Singapore was to fall.
However the Chinese did not attack other British holdings in Asia or Oceania, so the British began planning to liberate the colonies from the Chinese. They planned to sent over 300 war ships, including 21 of the 31 Royal Navy Aircraft Carriers to liberate the colonies. The plan was to stage the invasion of Malaysia through Singapore and after liberating Malaysia, demand a Chinese surrender of Hong Kong and Macau or face full fledged war.
After planning had been completed, the British began sending its ships and resources to Singapore. 300 war ships from Australia, the Dominion of Canada and the British colonies in Africa all sailed quickly to Singapore. The British had amassed a massive army of nearly 1 million to liberate the colonies from the Chinese.