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Pointing fingers at China's internal affairs, the British Prime Minister's speech was refuted by the Chinese side

author:Globe.com

Source: Global Times

Chen Jiacun, Global Times reporter Chen Qingqing, Qiao Wenshu, Yu Wenshu, Liu Yupeng] "The root cause of Britain's predicament today lies in itself, don't blame China for no reason! The spokesman of the Chinese Embassy in the UK responded to British Prime Minister Sunak's China-related remarks the day before on the 29th. On the evening of the 28th local time, British Prime Minister Sunak, who has just been in office for more than a month, delivered his first foreign policy speech, in which he talked about China at great length. On the one hand, he declared that "the golden age of Sino-British relations is over" and "China poses an institutional challenge to British values and interests", and at the same time said that "China's importance in international affairs cannot be ignored", that "the language of the Cold War" should not be used, and that Britain should use "strong pragmatism" to deal with competitors such as China. These words provoked a mixed reaction in the UK. Some politicians who advocate toughness on China expressed displeasure with Sunak's failure to refer to China as a "threat" in his speech; There are also people who recognize his "composure". A British expert said in an interview with the Global Times on the 29th that Sunak is clearly aware of the importance of engaging with China, but he is stuck in a quagmire because he needs to show a tough posture against his party at home and succumb to pressure from the United States. At the same time, Sunak also criticized China's anti-epidemic policies, including the alleged "beating" of a BBC journalist "covering in Shanghai," a claim that Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian scathingly refuted.

Pointing fingers at China's internal affairs, the British Prime Minister's speech was refuted by the Chinese side

Chinese Embassy: How can China challenge British values and interests?

On the evening of the 28th local time, Sunak attended the London Financial City Mayor's Dinner and delivered a foreign policy speech to the political and business people present. According to the British newspaper The Guardian, Sunak said that Russia is challenging the basic principles of the UN Charter, while "China is clearly using all levers of state power to compete for global influence." "We need to face our competitors bravely, not with flowery rhetoric, but with strong pragmatism," he said. ”

Sunak said Britain's approach to China needed to "evolve", "let's be clear, the so-called 'golden age' is over, and the naïve idea that trade will automatically lead to social and political reform." The Financial Times said that Cameron's government announced the beginning of a "golden age" in China-UK relations in 2015, and Sunak was secretly criticizing Cameron's pro-China policies.

Sunak's next words sparked a mixed discussion. "We should not rely on simple Cold War rhetoric," he said, "we cannot simply ignore China's importance in international affairs such as global economic stability or climate change," and "the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and many others understand this." So together we will manage this fierce competition, both diplomacy and engagement. ”

Sunak's speech showed his willingness to engage in dialogue with Beijing, a marked détente from the hawkish former British Prime Minister Truss, who had planned to list China as a "threat" in Britain's foreign policy review, according to the American "Politico" news network. The Financial Times said Sunak's words showed that Britain was determined to engage with China. But Sunak's "China hawk" MPs in Britain's Conservative Party and some in the opposition Labour Party criticized Sunak's speech as "thin as porridge" and that the so-called "strong pragmatism" was "repeated nonsense."

The Guardian said that since taking over as Conservative leader and British prime minister last month, Sunak has faced pressure from Conservative MPs to take a tough stance on China. In a speech on the 28th, Sunak said that China "violated and restricted human rights" in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, and also mentioned that the British side blocked Chinese companies from investing in 5G networks and some projects.

"The above remarks by the British side are full of ideological bias and maliciously distort and slander China's policy, and we express our firm opposition." A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in the UK said on the 29th that China insists on bringing opportunities to world development with its own development and has always been a contributor to global development. According to the World Bank, China's average contribution to world economic growth from 2013 to 2021 reached 38.6%, more than the combined contribution of G7 countries. "How can China challenge British values and interests? The root of Britain's predicament today lies in itself, do not blame China for no reason! ”

The spokesman said that China urges the British side to abandon prejudice, respect facts, stop slandering China, stop interfering in China's internal affairs, do not dance with the United States, and do not artificially set up obstacles to the development of China-UK relations. The British side should meet China halfway, expand cooperation and manage differences on the basis of mutual respect and win-win cooperation, which is the correct choice in the interests of the two peoples.

"Sunak government's China policy is chaotic and inconsistent"

According to public sources, official announcements of a "golden age" in Sino-British relations date back to 2015. On September 22 of that year, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Osborne delivered a speech on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, saying that "Britain can become China's best partner in the West" and "we believe that we can create a golden era of UK-China relations in the next few years". Reuters said that at that time, Cameron's government was holding negotiations with the EU on Britain's membership and planned to hold a referendum on whether to remain in the EU. In June 2016, the United Kingdom held a referendum, and the "Brexiteers" narrowly won, and Cameron resigned.

Luo Siyi, a senior researcher at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Chinese Minmin University and former director of the London Economic Policy Agency, said in an interview with the Global Times in 2021 that as far as the UK is concerned, Cameron has drawn a pragmatic conclusion on relations with China: the UK is the best gateway for Chinese companies to enter the EU, and the UK will benefit from it. These two points are the foundation of the "golden age" between China and Britain. However, with Brexit, Britain has followed the lead of the United States in foreign policy, and the foundation of the "golden age" between China and Britain has disappeared.

Cui Hongjian, director of the European Institute of the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times reporter on the 29th that Sunak's so-called "end of the golden age" statement actually clearly stated some of the British debates on Sino-British relations in recent years. In the 7 years between the introduction of the "Golden Age" and the current unilateral declaration by the UK that the "Golden Age is Over", several major changes have taken place. First, Brexit has brought challenges to the direction of the country's development in the UK, and its national policies have been disrupted to a considerable extent. Second, the past few years also coincide with a period of great changes in the international and regional situation, and the game between China and the United States and the geopolitical conflict in Europe are intensifying. Third, in the context of Brexit, the rise of political conservatism and populism in the UK can easily lead to a simple, ideological understanding of the world.

British writer, political and international relations analyst Tom Foday said in an interview with the Global Times on the 29th that the Sunak government's China policy is chaotic, inconsistent and incoherent. "The prime minister is well aware of the importance of engaging with China, but he is stuck in a quagmire because he needs to take a tough stance against his party at home and bow to U.S. pressure. This effectively leaves him little room to engage with China in a reasonable or fair way. Actually, so far, his actions (to China) are completely hostile. Britain's current foreign policy is fundamentally unstable because it is premised on ideology and nationalism, over which the prime minister clearly has limited control. ”

Sunak does not want the "face" of Sino-British relations, but wants "Lizi"

The Financial Times commented on the 29th that Sunak served as finance minister in the government of former British Prime Minister Johnson, and his statement was "a political figure who has so far looked at international affairs through an economic perspective to try a new foreign policy." The report quoted Kampfner, an expert at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, as saying: "Sunak is very inexperienced," "but diplomats will breathe a sigh of relief because Britain seems to be led by a calm man." ”

Qatar's Al Jazeera said on the 29th that Sunak's foreign policy was announced in this context: Britain is facing record inflation, high taxes and the possibility of falling into a long-term recession. Figures recently released by the Office for National Statistics showed that UK GDP contracted by 0.2% in the third quarter of this year.

Zeng Jinghan, a professor of political philosophy and religion at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom, told the Global Times reporter on the 29th that Sunak's statement shows that he will not take an extremely tough attitude towards China like his predecessor Truss, but he will not return to the Osborne period, or his own line towards China when he was chancellor of the exchequer. He does not want the face of the "golden age" of China-UK relations, but he wants to preserve the "lizi" of China-UK relations, that is, the part of economic and trade cooperation. It is difficult to say whether this strategy will achieve its goals and what impact it will have on Britain's China policy in the coming years. Because it is difficult to say how many years Sunak and the Conservatives will be in office, the current Conservative support is much lower than that of the Labour Party.

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