Britain's China policy needs an additional 'C'

Courtesy of South China Morning Post

Edited by Publication for brevity

Last week, Rishi Sunak, leader of Britain’s Conservative opposition, grilled Keir Starmer during a Prime Minister’s Questions session, starting with Taiwan, sweeping through the Jimmy Lai Chee-ying case in Hong Kong and ending his interrogation on issues of Russia-China relations and intelligence.

Starmer responded by setting out his government’s China policy framework: “cooperate, challenge, compete”. But a fourth C is needed to predict what a Labour-led Britain may seek out: consistency.

The previous Sunak government I served in had a very similar-sounding framework of “protect, align, engage” – so similar that I struggle with the semantical acrobatics. But the United Kingdom hit the reset button so many times that the other partner in this bilateral relationship could be forgiven for thinking we were having a political breakdown. There was no consistency whatsoever.

I agreed with former foreign secretary James Cleverly’s reluctance to define China using one word (at the time, hawks lobbied him to label it a threat). And whether it is “protect, engage, align” or “cooperate, challenge, compete”, the policies allow for nuance, breadth and depth in what British sinologist Kerry Brown determined was a bilateral relationship that showed the tectonic shifts in power more than any other diplomatic dance.

However, I do believe that one element will win out over the others, and therefore the adage that politics is all about choices comes to the fore. Which will it be for Labour, my new political party?

Last week, Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy visited Beijing and Shanghai, aiming to establish a higher frequency of dialogue with his counterpart.

Interestingly, China was cited by Sunak as an “enabler” of Russia in Prime Minister’s Questions, yet as we approach three years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine I’m having a told-you-so moment. At the time, I said the single biggest mistake the West could make was pushing China into the arms of Russia. When in Beijing, Lammy raised the issue of China’s support for Russia.

Savvy diplomacy from 2022 could have made efforts to avoid this trend. I feel strongly that there is an opportunity for this new government to insert itself, in a positive way, into some of the most pressing international issues of the day.

As a major global force, China must be included in the conversation. But we in the West must accept that if both our tone and actions attempt to make China a pariah, it will be left with no option but to lean towards Russia, economically and politically. Let’s be smart, not emotional.

The domestic challenges we face in the UK, from economic woes to cohesion, need to be addressed and so maybe China will become an overt issue in UK electoral politics, in addition to already being an elite interest. Due to the sheer number of Chinese students and China’s importance as a key engine of growth in the global economy, the world’s second biggest economy will shine light or cast shadows on the UK.

Britain’s finance minister Rachel Reeves is reported to be fronting a large business delegation to China next year. Will there be inducements for Chinese investment in the UK’s coming budget? Will the mega company Shein find a welcoming home? And with the potential of Trump 2.0 and higher US tariffs on China, perhaps the UK and China would need each other more than ever. But can Britain truly have an autonomous foreign policy when it comes to the biggest competitive battle of the day: the United States vs China?

Media coverage in the UK has labelled Lammy’s engagement as British kowtowing, even invoking the 18th century Macartney mission (though Lord Macartney refused to prostrate himself before the emperor). During the launch of a book on UK-China relations by Professor Brown that I chaired, I highlighted how Macartney saw in China an ossifying empire.

My belief is that we need to up our game in the West, otherwise developing countries, including China, will end up seeing us as an ossifying force. To influence China’s trajectory, we must show that our way of doing things is working. The future has not been written; Britain’s Labour Party has an opportunity to change our prospects at home and influence the tone of events overseas.

Lammy’s ambition is to carve out a consistent approach towards China. Will it stand up to a fierce wall of opposition among UK politicians? For China’s part, its leaders can help bolster this change in tack by revisiting the sanctions in place for UK parliamentarians, dispelling espionage fears and being the architects of tangible short- and long-term commercial deals that benefit both our countries when the next major visit happens.

ARTICLE PUBLISHED HERE: https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3283277/when-it-comes-china-britain-must-play-smart-not-be-emotional