![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.declassifieduk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/01-header-US-navy-load-cluster-bomb.jpg\")
\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n Cluster bombs for Ukraine? A warning from Kosovo<\/h2><\/a>\n READ MORE <\/i><\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nBanned bomb<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nMore than 120 nations have signed a treaty to ban the weapon since 2008. As a signatory to that convention, UK prime minister Rishi Sunak was obliged to make mild criticism of Biden\u2019s decision last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But for decades until Britain banned the bomb, it was a world leader in their manufacture and export.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sunak\u2019s predecessor, Thatcher, had no qualms about selling the weapon to even the most brutal dictatorships, such as Zimbabwe and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, her attempts to add another customer to that list \u2013 China \u2013 have remained secret until now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her government\u2019s highly confidential negotiations are laid bare in a cache of files found by Declassified UK <\/em>at the National Archives.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThey reveal that within two months of Thatcher entering 10 Downing Street in 1979, a team from state-owned British Aerospace (now called BAE Systems) was on the ground in China promoting sales of its Harrier jet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chinese authorities were reluctant to buy the aircraft unless it came with cluster bombs, prompting a debate in Whitehall about whether to export this weapon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n“Chinese military industrialists were ‘clearly impressed’ by the display of cluster bombs”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
A British diplomat, Richard Fursland, reasoned: \u201cMinisters have made clear that they want the Harrier sale to go through\u2026I am sure that Ministers would not wish Harrier negotiations at the present stage to be complicated by any reluctance on our part to discuss possible sales of Cluster bombs as one of the many options which might form part of an eventual deal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fursland stressed the importance of British firms being \u201cas free as possible to discuss the inclusion of any equipment which might help to secure\u201d the sale of Harriers to China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ministers entertained the idea throughout 1980, allowing Chinese engineers to visit a factory in the home counties where they watched a demonstration of Britain\u2019s BL-755 cluster bomb by its manufacturer, Hunting Engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The visitors, drawn from a group of \u201csome 20 Chinese military industrialists\u201d, were \u201cclearly impressed\u201d by the display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Ministry of Defence\u2019s (MoD) arms dealing wing, the Defence Sales Organisation (DSO), had already held \u201ca number of meetings\u2026with the Equipment Department of the Chinese Headquarters General Staff\u201d in Shanghai about cluster bombs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reacting to our discovery, Andrew Feinstein, author of The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade<\/em>, commented: \u201cThis extraordinary revelation shows yet again how the UK\u2019s arms export controls are \u2013 contrary to government statements over decades \u2013 amongst the weakest in the world and enable Britain to sell pretty much any military materiel to anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nHe added: \u201cCluster munitions have a devastating impact on civilian populations. There should never have been an attempt to sell them to the Chinese, just as no country should be sending them to Ukraine today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Terror weapons\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nThe secret negotiations took place less than five years after the death of Chairman Mao Zedong, whose \u2018cultural revolution\u2019 saw the death of up to two million Chinese citizens, many through famine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zedong left behind a totalitarian state system, but one that had a rift with the Soviet Union \u2013 providing Western leaders an incentive to woo Beijing as part of Cold War geopolitics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some staff in the Foreign Office worried that exporting cluster bombs to China \u201ccould hand the Russians a propaganda gift on a plate\u201d due to its \u201ccertain notoriety as an inhumane weapon\u201d if used against troops rather than tanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Others highlighted how \u201csales to authoritarian, repressive regimes require particular attention\u201d and noted the weapon\u2019s \u201cpotential use in internal repression\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Government officials were conscious that the weapon\u2019s use \u201cagainst personnel in civilian areas could nevertheless cause a public outcry as Cluster Bombs are established in the public mind domestically and internationally as \u2018terror weapons\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But others felt the UK could \u201cride a bit of Soviet propaganda\u201d and the MoD took the view that \u201cwhereas BL-755 could be used to disperse crowds, just as a sledge hammer can be used to crack a nut, it would be ludicrously expensive over-kill\u201d. Each bomb would cost around \u00a335,000 in today\u2019s prices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n RELATED<\/h3>\n \n \n \n ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.declassifieduk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Osborne-China.jpg\")
\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n \n Revealed: Royal Navy trained China for free at five-star hotel<\/h2><\/a>\n READ MORE <\/i><\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nApproving sales<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nBy May 1980, the Foreign Office was so relaxed about the issue that a staffer, G.E. Cheesman, wrote: \u201cWe have since come a long way in approving sales of sensitive equipment to the Chinese and I would not have thought that Ministers now would regard sales of BL755 to China as a sensitive issue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Government guidance allowed British arms firms to \u201cexplore without commitment\u201d the sale of such weapons to China. In practice, this meant: \u201cIf we authorise exploratory discussions now, we shall in effect have taken a decision to sell these weapons, even if the formal decision is delayed until later.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whitehall believed China only wanted the weapon for \u201cdefensive use against the perceived Soviet threat and not for internal suppression.\u201d It would \u201cpartly fill a Chinese defensive gap against vastly superior Soviet armour positioned across their northern frontier\u201d and therefore \u201cprovide a little more balance to the Sino-Soviet military situation\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An RAF wing commander did urge some caution, explaining that data on their cluster bomb\u2019s effectiveness against Soviet T-72 tanks was \u201cextremely sensitive\u201d. The data showed British pilots could only expect to kill one in ten modern Russian tanks at best with the weapon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Secret demonstration<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nThe talks continued even as the Chinese lost interest in buying Harrier jets from British Aerospace. Beijing indicated it wanted to fire the cluster bomb from Chinese-made planes and even acquire the right to licence production of the British-designed weapon in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whitehall \u201cmade clear to the Chinese that any deal would have to provide for certain minimum numbers of weapons to be provided whole or as components before we could agree to licensed manufacture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Officials felt \u201cthe sort of numbers we would put to the Chinese at the start would be for a minimum of 5000 complete bombs\u2026a deal of this sort would be worth something of the order of \u00a375m and provided much needed work for both Hunting Engineering and the Royal Ordnance Factories.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another document put the potential order at up to 10,000 bombs, and worth over \u00a3100m. The cost would be four times that amount today, when adjusted for inflation. A senior MoD official said: \u201cThe security and strategic risks are, I believe, minimal, and the economic benefit would be substantial.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A DSO team visited Beijing again in November 1980 and wanted to let a Chinese pilot conduct a secret demonstration of BL-755 from a Chinese plane on their next visit, with deliveries of the bomb aimed for 1982.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A senior British diplomat, Sir Edward Youde, worried: \u201cThere is a French equivalent to the BL-755 cluster bomb. If we decided not to proceed in this matter, there is little doubt the Chinese would be able to explore purchase with the French.\u201d Youde went on to become governor of Hong Kong in 1982.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n RELATED<\/h3>\n \n
More than 120 nations have signed a treaty to ban the weapon since 2008. As a signatory to that convention, UK prime minister Rishi Sunak was obliged to make mild criticism of Biden\u2019s decision last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But for decades until Britain banned the bomb, it was a world leader in their manufacture and export.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sunak\u2019s predecessor, Thatcher, had no qualms about selling the weapon to even the most brutal dictatorships, such as Zimbabwe and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, her attempts to add another customer to that list \u2013 China \u2013 have remained secret until now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her government\u2019s highly confidential negotiations are laid bare in a cache of files found by Declassified UK <\/em>at the National Archives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They reveal that within two months of Thatcher entering 10 Downing Street in 1979, a team from state-owned British Aerospace (now called BAE Systems) was on the ground in China promoting sales of its Harrier jet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chinese authorities were reluctant to buy the aircraft unless it came with cluster bombs, prompting a debate in Whitehall about whether to export this weapon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Chinese military industrialists were ‘clearly impressed’ by the display of cluster bombs”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n A British diplomat, Richard Fursland, reasoned: \u201cMinisters have made clear that they want the Harrier sale to go through\u2026I am sure that Ministers would not wish Harrier negotiations at the present stage to be complicated by any reluctance on our part to discuss possible sales of Cluster bombs as one of the many options which might form part of an eventual deal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fursland stressed the importance of British firms being \u201cas free as possible to discuss the inclusion of any equipment which might help to secure\u201d the sale of Harriers to China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ministers entertained the idea throughout 1980, allowing Chinese engineers to visit a factory in the home counties where they watched a demonstration of Britain\u2019s BL-755 cluster bomb by its manufacturer, Hunting Engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The visitors, drawn from a group of \u201csome 20 Chinese military industrialists\u201d, were \u201cclearly impressed\u201d by the display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Ministry of Defence\u2019s (MoD) arms dealing wing, the Defence Sales Organisation (DSO), had already held \u201ca number of meetings\u2026with the Equipment Department of the Chinese Headquarters General Staff\u201d in Shanghai about cluster bombs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reacting to our discovery, Andrew Feinstein, author of The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade<\/em>, commented: \u201cThis extraordinary revelation shows yet again how the UK\u2019s arms export controls are \u2013 contrary to government statements over decades \u2013 amongst the weakest in the world and enable Britain to sell pretty much any military materiel to anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He added: \u201cCluster munitions have a devastating impact on civilian populations. There should never have been an attempt to sell them to the Chinese, just as no country should be sending them to Ukraine today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The secret negotiations took place less than five years after the death of Chairman Mao Zedong, whose \u2018cultural revolution\u2019 saw the death of up to two million Chinese citizens, many through famine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zedong left behind a totalitarian state system, but one that had a rift with the Soviet Union \u2013 providing Western leaders an incentive to woo Beijing as part of Cold War geopolitics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some staff in the Foreign Office worried that exporting cluster bombs to China \u201ccould hand the Russians a propaganda gift on a plate\u201d due to its \u201ccertain notoriety as an inhumane weapon\u201d if used against troops rather than tanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Others highlighted how \u201csales to authoritarian, repressive regimes require particular attention\u201d and noted the weapon\u2019s \u201cpotential use in internal repression\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Government officials were conscious that the weapon\u2019s use \u201cagainst personnel in civilian areas could nevertheless cause a public outcry as Cluster Bombs are established in the public mind domestically and internationally as \u2018terror weapons\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But others felt the UK could \u201cride a bit of Soviet propaganda\u201d and the MoD took the view that \u201cwhereas BL-755 could be used to disperse crowds, just as a sledge hammer can be used to crack a nut, it would be ludicrously expensive over-kill\u201d. Each bomb would cost around \u00a335,000 in today\u2019s prices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n By May 1980, the Foreign Office was so relaxed about the issue that a staffer, G.E. Cheesman, wrote: \u201cWe have since come a long way in approving sales of sensitive equipment to the Chinese and I would not have thought that Ministers now would regard sales of BL755 to China as a sensitive issue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Government guidance allowed British arms firms to \u201cexplore without commitment\u201d the sale of such weapons to China. In practice, this meant: \u201cIf we authorise exploratory discussions now, we shall in effect have taken a decision to sell these weapons, even if the formal decision is delayed until later.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whitehall believed China only wanted the weapon for \u201cdefensive use against the perceived Soviet threat and not for internal suppression.\u201d It would \u201cpartly fill a Chinese defensive gap against vastly superior Soviet armour positioned across their northern frontier\u201d and therefore \u201cprovide a little more balance to the Sino-Soviet military situation\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An RAF wing commander did urge some caution, explaining that data on their cluster bomb\u2019s effectiveness against Soviet T-72 tanks was \u201cextremely sensitive\u201d. The data showed British pilots could only expect to kill one in ten modern Russian tanks at best with the weapon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The talks continued even as the Chinese lost interest in buying Harrier jets from British Aerospace. Beijing indicated it wanted to fire the cluster bomb from Chinese-made planes and even acquire the right to licence production of the British-designed weapon in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whitehall \u201cmade clear to the Chinese that any deal would have to provide for certain minimum numbers of weapons to be provided whole or as components before we could agree to licensed manufacture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Officials felt \u201cthe sort of numbers we would put to the Chinese at the start would be for a minimum of 5000 complete bombs\u2026a deal of this sort would be worth something of the order of \u00a375m and provided much needed work for both Hunting Engineering and the Royal Ordnance Factories.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Another document put the potential order at up to 10,000 bombs, and worth over \u00a3100m. The cost would be four times that amount today, when adjusted for inflation. A senior MoD official said: \u201cThe security and strategic risks are, I believe, minimal, and the economic benefit would be substantial.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A DSO team visited Beijing again in November 1980 and wanted to let a Chinese pilot conduct a secret demonstration of BL-755 from a Chinese plane on their next visit, with deliveries of the bomb aimed for 1982.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A senior British diplomat, Sir Edward Youde, worried: \u201cThere is a French equivalent to the BL-755 cluster bomb. If we decided not to proceed in this matter, there is little doubt the Chinese would be able to explore purchase with the French.\u201d Youde went on to become governor of Hong Kong in 1982.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\u2018Terror weapons\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
RELATED<\/h3>\n
\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n Revealed: Royal Navy trained China for free at five-star hotel<\/h2><\/a>\n READ MORE <\/i><\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
Approving sales<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Secret demonstration<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
RELATED<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.declassifieduk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/china-parade.jpg\")
\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n