Their brief romance is coming to an end and Britain needs to move on, but the question remains, how?
Release Date – 12:50 AM, Thu – 1 December 22
By Ajay Gokul S
Hyderabad: Everyone saw it coming. After all, Britain and China have never seen eye to eye. Britain’s one-sided unrequited love (or in this case trade deficit) has certainly clouded its China strategy. The revolving door of 10 Downing Street may have aged Cameron’s prime ministership, but as recently as 2015 he doggedly played Eros for Britain and China. His proclamation of a “golden age” doesn’t seem to last a decade, however. Rishi Sunak put an end to it in his first major foreign policy speech.
Although the Conservative Party has been in power for more than ten years, there have always been huge contradictions in Britain’s China policy. It started with Cameron, who made endless overtures to China, despite strong opposition and warnings. Xi Jinping received a grand welcome in the UK. From being entertained by the Queen at a state dinner at Buckingham Palace to a few pints in a Buckinghamshire pub, he reveled in decidedly British camaraderie. The UK-China relationship has been touted as a “long-term prosperous” relationship, with Xi even addressing both houses of parliament.
tit for tat
Fast forward to 2022, and several of those lawmakers are now banned in China for commenting on the treatment of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. In retaliation, Chinese ambassadors were banned from viewing the Queen’s coffin at Westminster Abbey this year, and Xi Jinping did not attend the high-profile funeral. In October, Britain’s spy chief labeled China a “threat”. The head of British intelligence agency MI5 and his American counterpart went further by calling China the “biggest long-term threat” to the economy and national security. So how did this come about? This quick and public relationship breakdown?
To be fair, it’s been a few years in the making. When Theresa May was home secretary under Cameron, she greeted Mr Xi in an all-red suit during his state visit to the UK. However, she doesn’t seem to finish it with the same enthusiasm. During her tenure as prime minister, UK-China relations took a downturn. She was too preoccupied with the failure of the Brexit deal that ultimately led to her resignation.
flip flops
Then there was Boris Johnson, who officially classified China as a “systemic competitor”. Relations between the two countries have soured after Beijing imposed national security laws on the former British colony of Hong Kong. Its special privilege of independence from mainland China is now increasingly restricted. With some assertive push from Trump, Boris also banned Huawei. The pandemic was the last straw.
Boris’ successor, Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister, Liz Truss, hastily said she wanted to label China an outright “threat”. But many of her decisions have been erratic and influenced by belligerent political rhetoric. Instead of calling China a threat, however, the latest entrant, Rishi Sunak, has taken a more moderate stance that echoes Boris’ policies.
These ongoing changes reveal how the UK is caught between a rock and a hard place trying to manage its China strategy. On the one hand, it has been dealing with Brexit. For an island that has left behind a large and well-established trading bloc, China has the potential to provide economic comfort. But on the other hand, Britain has to accept its declining global status and an increasingly aggressive China. Geopolitically, it is in an awkward position between China and the United States competing for hegemony. The United States has become increasingly tough on China, splitting the two camps in the world. So, what is the way ahead?
transaction failed
Britain needs to stop being wary of American foreign policy. Rishi Sunak rightly pointed out in his speech that the way the West advocates increasing trade with China in order to democratize it is bluff. He called the trade strategy to bring about social and political reform in China a “naive idea”. In fact, the opposite is true. For Britain, there is now a huge deficit in China’s favor, making the former heavily dependent on the latter. Any further widening of this deficit will only give China greater leverage. If anything, increased trade with China has cemented the Communist Party’s grip on power.
Britain needs a serious reckoning with its current role and influence in the world. After leaving the European Common Market, the UK no longer has the same leverage in negotiations with the US and China. Britain must embrace the newfound, hard-fought independence that Brexit has given it to build a coherent foreign policy. Sunak, whose meeting with Xi was canceled at the G20 meeting in Bali, confused “threats” with “systemic challenges” when asked about his stance on China. Returning home from the summit, his foreign policy speech at the mayoral banquet provided welcome clarity.
However, Rishi Sunak has also drawn the ire of several MPs in his party and the opposition for not calling China a threat. Some hardliners have even compared it to Britain’s appeasement policy against Nazi Germany in the 1930s. However, with war on European soil, soaring energy bills and a cost-of-living crisis, Rishi Sunak’s approach to China seems measured and grounded in reality. How his words will be reflected in his actions remains unknown. The Comprehensive Security and Foreign Policy Review in 2023 will present more details. But what is certain is that the short-lived romance between Britain and China is coming to an end. The UK needs to move on, but the problem remains, how?
(The author is the founder and president of Global Madras, a student-led think tank based in Tamil Nadu)
