At present, according to the exit polls of the election of the lower house of the British parliament, the Labour Party led by Keir Starmer has won more than half of the seats in the lower house of parliament, and Starmer is about to replace the Conservative Party Rishi Sunak, who has been in office for less than two years, as the new British prime minister.
As soon as the British Labour Party learned of the good news, it made clear its attitude towards China, saying that it would actively engage with China and would send senior executives to visit China in the near future, throwing an "olive branch" of cooperation to China.
(Keir Starmer, leader of the British Labour Party)
A few days ago, at a meeting with the media, David Lamy, spokesman for the British Labour Party, gave a brief explanation of their future governing direction.
On relations with China, Lamy said that developing Sino-British relations would be a "long-term strategy" for the Labour Party when he was in power, and Lamy declared that they would "have both competition and cooperation" with China.
Even Lamy believes that it is very incredible that the Sunak government has neglected to engage with China before, and the UK should actively engage with China in an all-round way. To this end, they said that as soon as the Labour Party officially came to power, it would announce that it would send its new foreign secretary and other important ministers to China to discuss cooperation.
In terms of relations with the EU, the Labor Party said that it will still take LinkedIn to stay out of the EU as much as possible, but will reshape relations with the EU and strengthen cooperation with EU countries.
It is worth mentioning that Lamy also elaborated on the attitude of the Labor Party towards the United States. He said that the Labor Party will still maintain the so-called "special relationship" with the United States after taking power, and will still maintain a united front with the United States in terms of common strategies and interests. But as the United States becomes more unpredictable, it will also be wary of the United States.
This means that the Labour Party may still follow the United States ideologically and deliberately blur its strategic position when it is in power, but it will also prioritize its own interests and attach importance to the economic relationship between Britain and China.
(British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak)
This feeling is very similar to the ruling party in Australia, which is also known to be the Labour Party, and has a lot of similarities with the British Labour Party.
First, both the British and Australian Labour parties are rooted in the socialism and labour movements of the early 20th century, and both belong to more centre-left social democracy. Its original intention and core mission is to safeguard the interests of the working class and working people, and to advocate increased government investment in education, health services and public infrastructure to promote social welfare and equality, and improve the quality of life, which leads to higher economic demand when the Labour Party is in power.
Second, it is also obvious from the speech that the situation in the United Kingdom is similar to that of Australia, although it is still fundamentally unable to get rid of its dependence on the United States, but compared with the previous ruling party, the Labor Party has a clear change in its attitude towards China.
Compared with the previous Australia, the previous Australia, under the leadership of former Prime Minister Morrison, followed the pace of the United States and promulgated a lot of tough policies against China, which not only led to the relationship between the two countries to drop to the freezing point, but also made high trade barriers between the two countries, Australia had nearly 20 billion Australian dollars in export losses every year, and the situation did not improve until Albanese came to power.
Recently, China and Australia have not only resumed normal trade between them, but also strengthened military communication.
Even when Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese learned of China's upcoming visit to Australia, he immediately published an article entitled "Effective Cooperation with China Will Benefit Everyone in the Region", sending an olive branch to the Chinese side that he is willing to strengthen cooperation.
(Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese)
Therefore, after the British Labour Party comes to power, it is very likely that it will make the same choice as the Australian government.
Because although the British Labour Party seems to have won a lot of glory when it gains power this time, it can actually be regarded as inheriting a "mess" in one place.
Since Sunak took office in 2022, in less than two years, there has been a lot of public opinion pointing out that Britain is facing many serious problems. It is not only facing problems such as high inflation, fiscal constraints, and human resource shortages. And due to the global economic downturn leading to the European Central Bank's interest rate cut, as well as the ongoing impact of Brexit, the British economy is full of uncertainty.
Against this backdrop, the Labour ruling party, which has seen the weak development trend of the British economy, will make engagement with China its top priority from the perspective of interests. And for China, it can still reap certain benefits.
First, from the perspective of easing international tensions. Strengthening cooperation between China and the UK can send a positive signal to the world, help balance the influence of the United States in international affairs, and promote the multipolar development of global power.
Second, it is analyzed from the perspective of weakening the trade war launched by the United States and the West against China. Britain's increased cooperation with China also represents a divergence of opinion within the Western coalition, which has helped to weaken the West's China strategy under the leadership of the United States. In addition, strengthening the bilateral relationship between China and the UK can also directly promote trade and investment between the two countries, which will contribute to the stable growth of China's economy and the development of globalization.
Third, from the perspective of further opening the international market for China, breaking through the US blockade and increasing its influence. As an important player in the global economy, establishing closer economic and trade relations with the UK can also help Chinese products and services to enter the UK and even the entire European market more easily, which is not only an economic benefit, but also can increase China's soft power and influence on the international stage, and prepare for further breaking the US siege of China.
(Weak economic development trend in the UK)
In short, it is a good thing for both China and Britain that the United Kingdom, under the leadership of the new political party, has taken the initiative to seek opportunities to break the ice with China and choose to achieve a win-win situation in peaceful competition. But from another point of view, how long Labour will be in power and how long its policies will be implemented is unreliable to judge by the current statements alone. As for whether there can be a new breakthrough in Sino-British relations, further empirical evidence and observation are needed.