The British Prime Minister initiates a change of course in his country’s China policy.
(Photo: via REUTERS)
London In his first policy speech, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promises “robust pragmatism” towards China. Sunak reportedly wanted to promise an “evolutionary leap” in British foreign policy at the traditional annual banquet of the Lord Mayor of the City of London on Monday evening.
“That means building a stronger economy at home – because that’s the basis of our strength abroad,” the prime minister’s speech in London said, “and it means defying our competitors, not with much rhetoric, but with robust pragmatism.”
Setting the course for British China policy comes at a sensitive time internationally. The protests against the corona lockdown in many Chinese cities make it difficult to (re)approach Beijing. A BBC journalist was also arrested in Shanghai and reportedly ill-treated.
At the same time, the US government tightened its course against Beijing and largely banned the import and sale of IT and surveillance technology from China. Other countries, including Germany, make takeovers in key technologies by Chinese investors more difficult.
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The British economy in particular is therefore eagerly awaiting a foreign policy announcement from the new head of government. In the past few months, Sunak has given contradictory signals about how he intends to shape relations with China in the future. “I think that China clearly poses a systemic threat – well, a systemic challenge – to our values and our interests,” the prime minister said ambiguously on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Bali.
British investments in China have been declining for some time
The difference between “threat” and “challenge” is more than semantically and politically difficult. Great Britain is in the process of updating its integrated security strategy and at the same time redefining its relationship with the Middle Kingdom. While Sunak’s predecessor, Liz Truss, no longer wanted to see Beijing as just a rival, but as a threat, Sunak now seems to be rowing back.
Previous governments also steered a zigzag course towards Beijing: While ex-Prime Minister David Cameron was still dreaming of a “golden era” between the Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom, his successor Theresa May was already distancing himself at the end of her term in office.
>> Also read here: Great Britain has gone astray – politically and economically
Tony Danker, head of the British industry association CBI, had warned in the summer that Great Britain would be dependent on new and old trading partners if the government in London also distanced itself economically from China. Otherwise there is a risk of an inflationary surge in costs in the global supply chains.
“However, the UK 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 the global value chains are still heavily dependent on the new superpower.
However, the fact that the British government recently blocked an indirect takeover of the Nexperia chip factory in Wales by a Chinese investor for reasons of national security is causing uncertainty among companies and employees. “Nearly 600 workers received shock just a month before Christmas,” said local Labor MP Ruth Jones. Nexperia is based in the Netherlands but belongs to the Chinese Wingtech Group.
China hawks put pressure on Sunak
Sunak’s words about “robust pragmatism” are unlikely to remove this uncertainty. The China hawks among the governing Tories fear that their prime minister wants to keep the doors to the huge Chinese market open for economic reasons. “I am concerned that the current Prime Minister (…) will be perceived as weak because it now seems like we are drifting towards a policy of appeasement towards China,” warned Tories’ right-wing Iain Duncan Smith ahead of the recently planned and then failed meeting between Sunak and China’s head of state Xi Jinping in Bali.
The distrust of the party right is based on statements made by the prime minister in the recent past. As Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sunak had called for a turning point in relations with China in December 2021 and reactivated trade talks. At that time he advocated a “balanced relationship” that also had to take economic interests into account.
Then, in the summer of 2022, he suddenly called China the “greatest threat to the security and prosperity of Britain and the world” and vowed to “stand up to” Beijing.
More: Protests in parts of China against corona policy – people call on Xi to resign