News / Foreign Policy / Editor's Choice

UK set to harden approach towards China in the wake of pandemic

Monday, 01 June 2020 4:31 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 01 June 2020 4:37 PM ]

The UK is giving serious consideration to significantly downgrading relations with China

After several months of intense lobbying it appears that the hardline anti-China faction in the ruling Tory party has finally managed to significantly influence British policy on China.

According to Sky News, the UK is set to “rethink” its policy on China following the “hardening” of attitudes in the government in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

NEW: UK is set to rethink policy on China as views within government appear to harden in wake of #COVID19
It comes as former top diplomats warn the pandemic could have a lasting impact on the world order.

Find out more at #AfterThePandemic on @skynews https://t.co/EzPrJhwrxC
— Deborah Haynes (@haynesdeborah) June 1, 2020

Quoting “Whitehall” sources, Sky News reports that the British government believes the coronavirus crisis will have a “lasting impact” on the world order.

It quotes Lord Ricketts, a former national security adviser and former ambassador to France, as claiming: “We are at one of those watershed moments – a bit like after the Second World War”.

Glad to contribute to this analysis of the world after the pandemic @SkyNews https://t.co/Cs1E06o9YE
— Peter Ricketts (@LordRickettsP) June 1, 2020

"What we risk is a world fractured into spheres of influence again … Clearly a Chinese sphere, an American sphere, a European sphere perhaps - rather weaker", Lord Ricketts predicted.

Sky News then quotes one of its anonymous Whitehall sources as stating: "The thinking is that we are going to have a much more difficult relationship [with China] and we should lessen our dependence".

A second anonymous Whitehall source tells Sky News that the “keystone” of the new government approach is that the UK is “prepared to take economic pain to reduce dependence on China”.

In a related development seven former British foreign secretaries have written a letter to the serving foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, demanding the UK takes the “lead” in coordinating the “international response” to China’s plan to apply a new national security law to Hong Kong.

A powerful call for British leadership on Hong Kong. I can’t think of another issue around which this group of seven ex-Foreign Secretaries would rally. https://t.co/yuWnQ5dqiC
— Peter Ricketts (@LordRickettsP) June 1, 2020

Raab had earlier announced the UK is prepared to grant full British citizenship to British National (Overseas) passport holders in Hong Kong.

Britons support government's aggressive policy on Hong Kong

According to an opinion poll the British people are broadly in favor of government plans to grant British citizenship to hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong residents.

The flurry of reports about a potential strategic shift in Sino-British relations comes on the heels of intensified activity by the anti-China faction in the ruling Tory party led by the chair of the foreign affairs select committee in the House of Commons, Tom Tugendhat.

British Sinophobes in diversionary attack on China

In an attempt to divert attention from the UK

In late April the anti-China faction even set up a “research” group to co-ordinate anti-Chinese propaganda activities across the government, media and the universities.

Tories establish anti-China parliamentary group

A group of Tory MPs have escalated their propaganda war against China by creating a phoney "research" group to supposedly study the rise of China as a superpower.

This intense lobbying is believed to have played a significant role in persuading Prime Minister Boris Johnson to cancel the Chinese technology giant Huawei’s contribution to the development of Britain’s 5G network.