July 25, 2022
Conservative Party leadership contenders Truss (left) and Sunak (right)
The battle for the phase of the UK’s “post-Johnson” era is in full swing. Faced with many urgent topics such as economic sluggishness, inflation, poor people’s livelihood, and tensions with the European Union, the focus of debate among Conservative Party leaders and prime minister contenders has unexpectedly turned to “China” .
Just as major British media reported that Conservative Party leadership contenders accused each other of being weak on Beijing and declared that they would “strengthen their stance on China”, people noticed that Britain’s political and civil attitudes towards China were changing dramatically, including There has also been a silent major revision to the China policy of the biggest opposition Labour Party.
Judging from various signs, no matter how the British regime change is interpreted or how major policies will be adjusted in the future, one thing has become clear: the once-popular expectation of mainstream British public opinion to promote “win-win cooperation” through economic cooperation with China Pragmatic” strategic thinking is a thing of the past.
“China” tongue war
image source,Archyde.com
Major British newspapers have featured prominently in the latest sparring and mutual sparring between Conservative Party prime minister contenders Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss over how China should be treated.
Conservative leadership contender Sunak has promised to close all Confucius Institutes in the UK if elected. Truss also reiterated his criticism of Beijing’s policies on issues including human rights, Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Taiwan.
Sunak was quoted by The Telegraph as saying that Truss had “helped Beijing infiltrate British universities” when he was education minister. The paper also said that Sunak had publicly called China the “biggest long-term threat” facing Britain and argued that British politicians had been ignoring China’s “bad behavior” for too long.
In response to Sunak’s allegations, Truss countered in an interview with the Daily Mail that she had “strengthened her stance on China” from her first day as foreign minister; she also promised that once she became foreign minister The Prime Minister will further strengthen his position. Truss also slammed Sunak, who has long worked in the financial industry, for being “consistently weak” on China.
Former Conservative leader Lord Duncan-Smith, long known for his tough stance on Beijing, backed Truss in the leadership and prime minister race. He accused Sunak of “vigorously promoting economic cooperation with China during his two years as Chancellor of the Exchequer” in disregard of China’s human rights misdeeds and sanctions on British MPs.
image source,Xinhua
Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian presides over a regular press conference
Beijing responds
Facing the latest focus on British politics, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian responded at a regular press conference: “The election of the leader of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom is an internal affair of the United Kingdom, and I will not comment. I would like to advise individual British politicians to take China at every turn. Talking about things and making irresponsible remarks such as the so-called “China threat theory” will not solve their own problems.”
From the days of Tony Blair and Brown’s Labour Prime Ministers in the 2000s to the Cameron Conservative Party Prime Minister’s era in the mid-2010s, the United Kingdom has long pursued a policy of shelving disputes and vigorously developing economic and trade relations with China. The Cameron government also signed a “Golden Era” package of large-scale economic and trade cooperation agreements with visiting Chinese leader Xi Jinping in 2015, bringing the development of UK-China relations to a climax.
Since the Trump administration of the United States began to revise its China policy in 2018, there has always been a game between the so-called hawks and doves in the British political and business circles, so that whether to approve Huawei 5G and whether to accept China continues to be a major issue. A series of issues such as investment in infrastructure projects were once unresolved. For example, on the Huawei issue, Johnson’s government finally announced a ban on Huawei from participating in the UK’s 5G under strong pressure from the United States; and in projects such as Chinese-funded acquisitions of British wafer fabs and participation in the construction of nuclear power plants, they were approved first and then re-examined.
However, with Beijing’s increasingly tough policies in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other areas, as well as the vigorous development of the so-called “wolf warrior diplomacy” around the world, the trend of UK-China relations cooling down from the climax in 2015 has become increasingly evident.
Internal and external factors influencing UK-China relations
Kerry Brown, a well-known British expert on China, recently wrote an article in the China-Britain Business Council (CBBC) magazine to predict the trend of bilateral relations in 2022.
On the one hand, he cited examples such as the formation of AUKUS by the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia, the Indo-Pacific military alliance, and the definition of China as a strategic competitor by the G7. He pointed out that the general trend of cooling and competition in Britain and China caused by the general trend of geopolitical wrestling will continue.
He also pointed out that there are many uncertain factors in the development of economic, trade and people-to-people relations between the UK and China, mainly because both sides face many domestic economic and political problems: for example, China wants to promote “dual circulation”, “common prosperity”, and two Ten personnel problems; and if the UK’s economic situation continues to deteriorate in the future, it will also affect the relationship between the two countries.
Julia Pamilih, the chief researcher of the China Research Group (CRG), sponsored by some members of the British House of Commons who focus on China, quoted the group’s research report in a recent interview with the BBC in Chinese, saying that Cameron’s Prime Minister said that Gone are the days when Britain was China’s “best partner in the West”. The study pointed out that Beijing’s tough policies in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, as well as its subsequent trade sanctions against Australia and sanctions against British MPs, have changed civil and political attitudes towards China in the UK and the democratic world.
British Labour leader Stamore and shadow foreign minister Lamy visit Germany
While the ruling Conservative Party’s China policy has become increasingly tough, even the opposition Labour Party has gradually revised its China policy in the past two years. With Labour MP Lamy replacing MP Nandi as shadow foreign minister, Labour’s China policy has also undergone a major change from the era of “win-win cooperation”. Research papers within the Labour Party have also begun to review the policies signed by the Blair and Brown cabinets with Beijing allowing China to increase investment in Britain and recognizing China’s sovereignty over Tibet.
In addition to the obvious changes in the Labour Party leadership’s China policy, the participation and participation of more than a dozen incumbent Labour MPs in the Transnational China Policy Coalition (IPAC), originally initiated by the Conservative Party, also showed changes in Labour Party intentions. Many Labour MPs have also taken a stand in support of their Conservative colleagues’ relatively hard-line proposals on China in a number of motions in the British Parliament on Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and human rights.
Of course, some analysts have pointed out that there are still voices within the Conservative Party and the Labour Party who hope to take a “pragmatic” attitude towards UK-China relations. In particular, those who have or continue to have ties with China in the financial and cultural fields hope to maintain the “cold politics and economics” to some extent.
These more pragmatic MPs also believe that although the UK is an ally of the US, it still needs to maintain “policy autonomy” on certain issues, like the EU.
In addition, the Labour left still has a small number of supporters formed by former shadow treasurer John McDonnell and other MPs to oppose the “new cold war” – a coalition considered pro-Beijing, but this coalition has a large number of members. few.