In a keynote speech, the British Foreign Secretary calls for cooperation with China on trade and climate protection.
(Photo: Reuters)
London The British government is in favor of a differentiated approach to China. London warns against China’s armament in the Pacific, but at the same time calls for the country not to be isolated politically and economically. It’s easy to “declare a new Cold War and say our goal is to isolate China,” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a keynote speech in London, according to the manuscript.
However, this attitude is wrong because it betrays Britain’s national interests and misunderstands the modern world. Cleverly’s speech was scheduled for Tuesday evening in London’s “Mansion House”, the Foreign Office having previously published the most important excerpts.
London is setting a slightly different tone than the USA, which has been pushing for months to decouple the West from China economically, especially in technologically sensitive areas, and is calling on allies to follow the same course. However, last week US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also warned against a complete decoupling.
The UK has banned Chinese technologies such as Huawei’s 5G mobile technology from central areas of the national infrastructure and recently blocked the indirect takeover of a chip factory in Wales by a Chinese investor.
However, the kingdom insists on cooperation with Beijing on trade, investments and climate protection. “No major global problem – from climate change to pandemic protection, from economic stability to nuclear proliferation – can be solved without China,” Cleverly said.
Britain praises EU position on China
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also recently opposed economic decoupling and instead called for the risks of Europe’s economic dependence on the Chinese market to be reduced. The course set by the head of the EU Commission is classified as “exemplary” in London. One is in close coordination with its allies, it said in the British capital. French President Emmanuel Macron recently went a step further and, with a view to the tensions between Beijing and Washington over Taiwan, demanded that Europe also distance itself more politically from the US course.
The EU’s position meets with approval in London.
(Photo: AP)
The British are freer than others in their China strategy. “Britain is economically less dependent on China than Germany, for example,” says David Lawrence, foreign policy expert at the London think tank Chatham House. British investment in China has been declining for a long time. Only with the global value chains one is still heavily dependent on the country.
Britain recently joined the Pacific Trade Pact CPTPP, giving it the option of either blocking or allowing China to join the free trade alliance. The CPTPP was originally founded on a US initiative to isolate China economically in the Pacific. However, under the presidency of Donald Trump, Washington withdrew from the alliance of eleven Pacific Rim states.
For a long time, London drove a zigzag course towards Beijing
In recent years, British governments have often followed a zigzag course towards China. Former Prime Minister David Cameron predicted another “golden era” in relations with Beijing. He was followed by Theresa May, who was much more skeptical. China was then more of a rival for Boris Johnson, and his successor Liz Truss even wanted to brand the emerging world power as a “threat”.
The current head of government, Rishi Sunak, has corrected this course again and speaks of a “challenge” in his recently published national security strategy. However, there is considerable resistance to this more moderate course from the governing Conservatives in London. Former party leader Ian Duncan-Smith, for example, described Sunak’s position as “project kowtow”.
Cleverly also sharply criticized China’s military behavior in the Pacific: “China is currently carrying out the largest military build-up in peace history.” Great Britain and its allies are ready to speak openly about their presence in the Indo-Pacific. “I urge China to be equally open about the doctrine and intentions behind its military expansion.”
Otherwise there could be a “tragic miscalculation” with, as was emphasized in London, catastrophic consequences for the global economy. The Australian government announced on Monday that it would strengthen its own armed forces in the Pacific region.
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