According to the Observer Network, citing a number of foreign media reports, the British parliamentary election ended voting on the 4th local time, according to the exit polls of the British House of Commons election that evening, Keir Starmer's Labour Party won more than half of the seats in the lower house of parliament and will become the ruling party in the United Kingdom, ending the 14-year rule of the Conservative Party. According to the British media "The Times", Sunak may announce his resignation as leader of the Conservative Party soon after, and remain in office for the time being until a new leader is elected in the party. Although Britain is no longer a member of the European Union, as a permanent member of the Security Council, this "change" in British politics has attracted the attention of the whole world.
Because while the left-wing Labour Party is expected to win more than half of the seats in the British Parliament and become a strong ruling party, the political climate in Europe is collectively "turning to the right". One of the landmark events is the ongoing election of the new French House of Commons, Macron's political gamble did not get the expected results, but instead gave the country's far-right coalition party "National Alliance" a lead in the first round of voting, while Macron's centrist coalition party came in third.
This seismic shift was not only difficult for supporters of the center-left to accept, but also forced the French left and centrists to temporarily join forces against the far-right. In fact, in addition to France, Germany is also facing challenges from the rise of the far right, and the poor performance of the "traffic light" government over the past few years has led more and more Germans to side with the far-right that advocates "national priority". And the internal changes in France and Germany have also made Italian Prime Minister Meloni, who is already on the far right, less glaring. However, in the "right-turning" atmosphere of European politics, the British Labour Party is far less "left" than they claim to be.
In fact, rather than the Conservatives, which "embrace shared values," Labour prefers to "maintain the special historical relationship of its Atlantic partners" while managing its sensitive relationship with the global superpowers. According to the foreign policy statement disclosed by the British Labour Party, the UK's future China policy will still revolve around the core of "cooperation when it should cooperate, competition when it should compete, and confrontation when it should be", of course, this does not mean that the UK will completely follow the "de-risking" strategy of the United States. It is worth mentioning that Labour's shadow foreign secretary, Lamy, had already had a showdown on Sino-British relations in an interview on July 4, the day of voting in the parliamentary election.
He made it clear that there needs to be continuity in the UK's foreign policy towards China, "because China is so important" and that the UK government under the Labour leadership will be more active in "engaging in all aspects" with China. It is not difficult to see that, compared with the Conservative Party, which wants "Western unity" at every turn, Labour's foreign policy is more inclined to "self-centeredness" and balance alliance relations while ensuring that national interests are not lost. This also means that Europe's "rightward turn" has become an unstoppable trend, and traditional European values must be changed to adapt to the new situation.
Is such a "sudden rightward turn" of Europe a blessing or a curse for China? In fact, from China's standpoint, whether Europe is "united" or "embracing the United States", it is not a challenge for China. The real risk is that Europe "unites to embrace the United States" and that Europe, which is completely reduced to a vassal of the United States, will bring great pressure and uncertainty to the mainland's foreign work.
From this point of view, if the major European countries can insist on giving priority to their own interests, it will be beneficial to China, which means that Europe can be more pragmatic and rational in looking at Sino-US relations, as long as Europe can resist interference from ideology, even if it is only a minimum resistance, it is enough for China to divide the West from within and create favorable conditions for finally breaking through the strategic encirclement of the United States.