After Johnson officially announced his resignation as British prime minister, his successor became the focus of public opinion in the United Kingdom for a time, and after the fifth round of voting in the new party election in the British Conservative Party, Johnson's successor also surfaced, and one of the British prime minister candidates shouted: If elected, new sanctions will be imposed on China.
Due to the scandal of shielding the deputy party whip Christopher Pincher, which has aroused public doubts about whether British Prime Minister Johnson is still entrusted with a heavy responsibility because of his character problems, many government officials have lost confidence in Johnson. Against this backdrop, johnson issued a resignation statement outside the prime minister's office in early July, but Johnson also noted that he would remain prime minister "until the new leader is in place." For a time, Johnson's successor will be the subject of debate in Britain.
According to Xinhua news, on July 20, local time, the fifth round of voting in the New Party leader election of the British Conservative Party ended, and former Chancellor of the Exchequer Richh Sunak and Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Tras were identified as the final candidates, entering the next stage of "one-on-one" competition. According to the results of the day's vote, Sunak was supported by 137 Conservative MPs in the lower house of parliament, and Terrass received 113 votes. Former Defence Secretary Penny Modant was out of the game for having the fewest votes.
It is understood that earlier, 8 key Conservative Party members were supported by a sufficient number of Conservative MPs in the lower house of parliament and qualified to participate in the Conservative Party's new party leadership competition. The first phase of the election was voted by 358 Conservative MPs to lock in two final candidates. In the first four rounds of voting in the first stage, Sunak received the most votes, with Modant always occupying second place, followed by Terrass. But in the fifth round of voting on the 20th, Terrass's vote surpassed Modant.
It is worth mentioning that perhaps in the fourth round of voting, Modant saw that he was firmly in second place, and he had some confidence in his heart, in order to stabilize his vote and win more political support, Modant set his sights on the issue of hyping up relations with China. British media sources pointed out that Modant recently announced that if she succeeded in becoming the British prime minister, she would impose new sanctions on China. In Modant's view, the Johnson administration was "too weak" in its handling of relations with China, while she would be committed to "completely changing" Sino-British relations, saying that she would never be "soft" with China. Modant proposed a comprehensive review of government departments' China policies to reposition government strategies. She also boasted that under her leadership, britain would have a clearer "China strategy" and an "Indo-Pacific vision."
Although Modant's remarks are very encouraging within the Western countries, the reality is that she lost to her rival Terrass in the fifth round of voting, and she has no chance to show her "determination" to Show Strength in China. It is worth noting that The current British Foreign Secretary, Truss, is actually a "hard-liner" against China, after Whichers has pointed fingers and made irresponsible remarks about China's internal affairs in many public places, and warned China by taking the Sino-U.S.-Ukraine conflict and the suppression and sanctions against Russia by the West as an example. Moreover, on the economic front, Mr. Tras declared that the West must stop its naïve attitude toward economic geopolitical forces and take a hard line against countries like China. In response to Terrass's relevant remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian clearly stressed that sanctions have never been a fundamental and effective way to solve problems. China firmly opposes any form of unilateral sanctions and "long-arm jurisdiction".