The economic and trade cooperation between China and Russia is getting better and better, which makes the United States and various Western countries envious, jealous and hateful. Since the beginning of this year, US politicians and media have hyped up and slandered China for favoring Russia in an all-round way on the Russia-Ukraine issue, and poured dirty water on China-Russia cooperation. Even, after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a foreign aid bill worth $95 billion, it also put China, Russia, Iran and other countries into the "axis" camp. With the "big brother taking the lead" as an example, Britain, which has interfered in the mainland's internal affairs everywhere on issues related to Taiwan, Xinjiang, and Hong Kong, cannot sit still. Recently, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made a lot of nonsense in his speech in Warsaw, the capital of Poland, and while slandering and hyping Sino-Russian relations, he actually called China an "authoritarian country". This incident, which has received a strong response from the Chinese side, has also put China-UK relations to a new test.
The reason why Sunak made this remark is to echo the US policy toward China and Russia, and to make a big fuss about Sino-Russian relations. Previously, the United States and Western countries talked a lot about China's "aid to Russia", but seeing that it did not achieve results, recently hyped up "Sino-Russian cooperation". The normal trade cooperation between China and Russia was groundlessly accused by the West of "serving the war". During her visit to China, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was unashamed to point out that Chinese companies continue to serve the Russian defense industry, which will help Russia defeat Ukraine. Under the instigation and pressure of the United States, the Western-led G7, NATO and other alliance organizations have recently issued "threats" to Sino-Russian cooperation, forcing China to sever cooperation and exchanges with Russia and move closer to the West after "choosing sides".
It is precisely because of this background that, as a loyal younger brother of the United States, Britain naturally has to follow the will of the United States and take a strong attitude toward China. As everyone knows, Sunak's groundless accusations and the so-called "authoritarian state" rhetoric have completely angered China. The spokesman of the mainland embassy in the UK immediately criticized Sunak harshly, and Sunak's remarks by naming him were actually looking for an excuse for Britain to increase military spending. This is not a smear hype out of nowhere, it is exactly what it is. It can be said that since Sunak came to power, he has closely followed the pace of US policy, and his anti-China tendencies have become more and more obvious. Last year, the United Kingdom released a new version of the "Comprehensive Review of Security, Defense and Foreign Policy" report, which not only openly interfered in the mainland's Taiwan issue, but also positioned China as an "epoch-making challenge", which is exactly the same as the US government's China policy. Taking the opportunity of hyping up the "China threat theory", Sunak made a big noise and demanded that the British government increase military spending by 5 billion pounds, in order to guard against the so-called "China and Russia threat".
It is worth mentioning that mainland diplomats used an extremely sensitive title when they countered Sunak - "British politician". As the leader of the country, and the leader of the United Kingdom, a member of the P5, Sunak naturally has a certain amount of influence and voice in the international community, but in China's view, Sunak, who has unwarranted accusations and malicious slander against China, is no longer worthy of being the leader of a major country, and China naturally no longer uses honorific titles. Especially in the past two years, Britain has acted as a pawn of the United States to implement hegemonism, not only fanning the flames of the Russia-Ukraine war, but also openly providing military aid to Israel, forcing the war in the Middle East to continue to ferment and escalate. Sunak, who blindly obeyed the United States, has completely become a puppet of the United States. China also advises many anti-China politicians in the UK to focus on their own internal affairs and people's livelihood, and truly do what the leaders of major countries should do.
It is worth mentioning that the release of Sunak's remarks and the implementation of a series of anti-China policies have dealt another blow to the Sino-British relations, which had gradually warmed up. Especially in the economic sphere, Britain could have weathered the storm with China's assistance. According to the Doing Business 2023 report, Chinese companies' enthusiasm for investing in the UK market has continued to rise in recent years. More than 60% of the companies surveyed said they would maintain their investment in the UK, and more than half of the Chinese companies were optimistic about the prospects for the UK's business environment.
Last year, the UK also sent a number of high-level delegations to visit China, which has continued to warm up China-UK relations and exchanges and cooperation in various fields. Against the backdrop of a world economic downturn, China-UK cooperation is a win-win situation. However, Sunak's insistence on going his own way will make the efforts of all parties in the early stage come to naught. It is foreseeable that after calling China an "authoritarian country", the UK's business environment will inevitably continue to deteriorate in the future, and a large number of Chinese-funded enterprises will withdraw from China, and it will still be the interests of the UK that will be damaged in the end.