In the last days of August 1945, after Japan's surrender, Hong Kong found itself in a delicate situation. The Chinese nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek could occupy the British colony, transforming the Japanese capitulation into an irreversible change of power. If this happened, Macau would also be threatened, as the Portuguese enclave, neutral but defenseless, would inevitably be absorbed by the nationalist wave of territorial recovery.
The Portuguese and Macanese community in Hong Kong and Macau played a decisive role in this conjuncture. Dr. Eduardo Liberato "Eddie" Gosano, doctor and agent of the British Army Aid Group (BAAG), survived the Sham Shui Po and Argyle camps before managing to escape to Macau. Leonardo d'Almada e Castro, prestigious jurist, Jack Braga, intelligence network operator from Macau, and Bernard Felix Xavier, signalman and OSS agent, were part of this network that operated between communities, consulates and conflict zones.
The most extraordinary operation consisted of the journey of Gosano and d'Almada e Castro from occupied China to London, where they obtained a formal mandate for the restoration of British administration in Hong Kong. They returned crossing closed borders, with false identities, until they reached Sham Shui Po, where they delivered the orders to Franklin Gimson, still a prisoner. Gimson declared the restoration of the British government on 28 August 1945, two days before the arrival of the Royal Navy. Colonel Henrique Alberto de Barros Botelho, fighter in the Battle of Hong Kong and prisoner of war, also participated in special missions to coordinate the liberation.
In 2024, the Portuguese State paid official tribute to these communities through the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities, José Cesário, on the anniversary of the liberation of Hong Kong. The celebrations included visits to the Royal Hong Kong Regiment Association, the Hong Kong Museum of History, the Lusitano Club and the Recreio Club, where a field mass was held and a floral wreath was laid in memory of the Portuguese who died in the conflict.
