Editing Clement Attlee (section)

===== East Asia =====
In August 1948, the Chinese Communists' victories caused Attlee to begin preparing for a Communist takeover of China. It kept open consulates in Communist-controlled areas and rejected the Chinese Nationalists' requests that British citizens assist in the defence of Shanghai. By December, the government concluded that although British property in China would likely be nationalised, British traders would benefit in the long run from a stable, industrialising Communist China. Retaining Hong Kong was especially important to him; although the Chinese Communists promised to not interfere with its rule, Britain reinforced the [[Hong Kong Garrison]] during 1949. When the victorious Chinese Communists government declared on 1 October 1949 that it would exchange diplomats with any country that ended relations with the Chinese Nationalists, Britain became the first western country to formally recognise the People's Republic of China in January 1950.<ref name="jstor260389">{{cite journal |last=Wolf |first=David C. |title='To Secure a Convenience': Britain Recognizes China – 1950 |journal=Journal of Contemporary History |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=299–326 |year=1983 |s2cid=162218504 |jstor=260389 |doi=10.1177/002200948301800207}}</ref> In 1954, a Labour Party delegation including Attlee visited China at the invitation of then Foreign Minister [[Zhou Enlai]]. Attlee became the first high-ranking western politician to meet [[Mao Zedong]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Letter from Mao Zedong to Clement Attlee sells for £605,000 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/dec/15/mao-zedong-clement-attlee-letter-sothebys-auction |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=15 December 2015 |access-date=5 January 2020 |archive-date=28 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728170126/https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/dec/15/mao-zedong-clement-attlee-letter-sothebys-auction |url-status=live }}</ref>