2023-08-31 12:01:17
August 31, 2023
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British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly visited China on August 30 and met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing.
The much-anticipated British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly’s (James Cleverly, Qi Zhanming) visit to China was launched amid doubts within the British political circle. This is the first senior British cabinet minister to visit Beijing in five years.
Before his visit, once morest the backdrop of deteriorating Sino-British relations, some British lawmakers criticized the government’s China strategy as “incoherent”, and some even pointed out that the visit was a “show of weakness” to Beijing.
On the other hand, some observers told BBC Chinese that this trip may be a step in the “virtuous cycle” of improving relations between China and the West.
On Wednesday (August 30), Cleverly met with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing and held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
During the meeting, Cleverley raised Lai’s case, also expressed concern regarding the treatment of Uyghurs and urged China to lift sanctions on British lawmakers, the Foreign Office said.
Cleverley told the BBC in an interview following meeting with Chinese officials that cutting off ties with China was not a “credible” option.
He said the visit was an opportunity to state positions “directly and unequivocally” in areas of disagreement and to cooperate “wherever it is in our common interest”.
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Cleverly and Han are meeting on Wednesday
He said this would allow the UK to “rebuild communication channels” with China, while a lack of face-to-face contact might lead to “more misunderstandings, mutual mistrust and mistakes”.
The basis of the UK’s recent policy toward China comes from a change in the UK’s trade-offs between economic interests and security concerns.
China remains Britain’s fourth-biggest trading partner, but issues such as China’s threats to civil liberties in Hong Kong, espionage in Britain and support for Russia during the Ukraine war are among the factors straining relations between the two countries.
On the other hand, China’s economic recovery following the unblocking of the new crown epidemic is far less than expected, and the easing of relations with the United Kingdom and the United States may reduce the possibility of the West’s “deliberately promoting deterioration” in the prospect of investment in China.
Doubts in the UK
Cleverley’s visit to China comes at a time when the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee has been critical of the government’s China policy – which recently described China as a threat to the UK and its interests.
The report raises concerns regarding the government’s secrecy approach to China policy, pointing out that the policy is inconsistent because senior government ministers cannot see the secret strategy, and calls for the publication of a declassified version of the China policy to provide guidance to the public and the private sector.
Alicia Kearns, the committee’s Conservative chairwoman, said: “Without an understanding of the overall strategy, how can those who implement policy and make laws do it?”
Asked whether Cleverley should visit Beijing, Kerns told the BBC: “In cases of serious disagreement, it’s more important that we sit in the same room with them than cut off ties.”
However, the former leader of the Conservative Party, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who was sanctioned by China, said that Cleverley’s visit was another step in the “kowtow plan” and that the UK’s position was “obviously means of appeasement”.
“It’s like we want more business, so we don’t want to offend China too much,” he told the British Press Association (PA).
“What we ended up with was that they thought we were simply too weak.”
image copyrightGetty Images
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Cleverley’s visit to China was questioned by the British domestic political circles
Labour’s shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, has accused the Conservative government of “divisiveness, inconsistency and complacency in its approach to China” for more than a decade, saying the government needs to achieve “tangible diplomatic success”, including ending the Chinese sanctions on UK MPs.
The Liberal Democrats’ foreign affairs spokeswoman, Layla Moran, called Cleverley’s decision to meet Han a “snapshot” for those who want to see Hong Kong’s democratic rights protected.
In Beijing, Cleverley told the BBC following meeting with Chinese officials that he would continue to communicate with China on sensitive issues such as security and human rights.
“I’m realistically aware that one phone call, one visit, one meeting won’t fundamentally change the direction of the course,” he said in the interview, but “patient, consistent and reliable communication may make a difference.”
“That’s why every time I meet with representatives of the Chinese government, I bring up issues of human rights, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and especially some individual cases.”
Asked regarding China’s support for Ukraine, Cleverly said it was in China’s interest to bring the war to a “fair and successful conclusion.”
“I don’t think it’s in China’s interest to give the impression that they are actively or even passively supporting Putin’s actions,” he said.
Cleverly said the UK wanted to maintain economic relations with China, but he also said: “National security comes first, and whenever there is a situation where our security concerns conflict with our economic concerns, our security concerns will prevail.”
image copyrightGetty Images
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Chinese President Xi Jinping and then British Prime Minister David Cameron drinking beer together in 2015
After the “golden age”, is it regarding cooperation or differences?
The British government declared in 2015 that China-UK relations had entered a “golden age”.
At the time, then-Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne (Osborne) said Britain had “consolidated its position as China’s best partner in the West,” while then-Prime Minister David Cameron brought China’s president Xi Jinping drank a beer at a local bar.
Since then, however, Sino-British relations have undergone great changes. The British government has criticized China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, and in 2021 banned Chinese technology company Huawei from participating in the UK’s 5G infrastructure, citing security concerns.
In the same year, China imposed sanctions on five British MPs, including Sir Smith, accusing them of spreading “lies and disinformation”.
As prime minister at the time, Liz Truss allegedly had plans to relist China as a “threat” to the UK.
The current British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (Xin Weicheng) said in 2022 that the “golden age” of UK-China relations is over, and also called it “naive” to try to build closer ties with China.
But he has not heeded calls to echo Truss’s stance in calling China a “threat.”
The core of all this is that the basis of the UK’s recent China policy comes from a change in the UK’s trade-off between economic interests and security concerns.
Sometimes, the UK seeks business opportunities in China, hopes that China will invest in the UK, and even welcomes China to participate in the construction of some sensitive areas, such as civilian nuclear power plants.
But relations between Britain and China have become strained as China under Xi Jinping adopts an increasingly authoritarian policy line.
The move toward a new round of engagement, now under Sunak as prime minister, may be driven by a pragmatic, business-oriented policy. But it has also been criticized by some Conservative MPs who say the UK should be more vigilant regarding being seen as allowing China to exert influence over the UK economy.
Sunak, speaking in London, declined to say whether he would talk to Xi at next month’s G20 summit in Delhi, but said there were “areas of agreement” with China on climate change, global health and economic stability. Discussion is the “wise” thing to do.
Ding Hongliang, a lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Reading, does not believe that Cleverley’s visit to China represents a “softening” of the UK’s stance on China, because the tone of the UK has not changed on issues such as human rights and security.
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British Prime Minister Sunak said last year that the “golden age” of UK-China relations is over
However, he told BBC Chinese that he believes that Cleverley will “largely talk to himself…it will be difficult to achieve some substantive results” on sovereignty and human rights issues such as Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
Xu Zhenze, a Hong Kong scholar and research director of the Zhiming Institute, a Chinese think tank in the Asia-Pacific region, told BBC Chinese that raising human rights and sovereignty issues with Beijing may “greatly reduce” Cleverly’s chances of achieving results during his trip.
“Xi Jinping obviously puts strength first, or national power first,” he said in a telephone interview. Although China is considered to be facing an economic crisis, no matter in terms of capital and technology, it is not seen that China has much to the UK. big dependency.
He explained that in the competition between China and the United States, the importance of other countries has “declined very sharply”, and the United Kingdom is not an indispensable market or source of technology for China, nor can it shake China’s security. Therefore, the United Kingdom is “at a disadvantage” in the negotiations.
He pointed out that just as Chinese leaders would not discuss issues such as Scotland, Northern Ireland or domestic ethnicity with the UK when they visit the UK, if the UK challenges Beijing with sovereignty or human rights issues, it is likely to weaken the possibility of cooperation in other fields.
“When it comes to business, I will talk to you. If you want to talk regarding sovereignty, territory, etc., there is no need for China to talk to you,” Xu Zhen said.
“If, just if, (Clefeli and Sunak) are under a lot of pressure domestically – you have to say that if you’re in contact with Beijing, then you might as well not go – following you’ve said that, will the Chinese offer more How many opportunities are given to British businesses? Or will these areas be shaken or changed because of respect for the UK, so that the UK can get some diplomatic achievements? I don’t think it will be either.”
image copyrightUK Parliament
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Former Tory leader Sir Ian Duncan Smith is one of five UK MPs sanctioned by China
China’s considerations
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have both visited China in recent months in an effort to restart exchanges between the two superpowers.
Since the beginning of this year, China has also received visits from leaders of the European Union, France, Germany and Spain.
Former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull told the BBC that China has backed off from its “very aggressive” “wolf warrior diplomacy” and that Beijing is now launching a “charm offensive”.
This may be related to the current economic situation facing China. Experts pointed out that following the unblocking of the new crown epidemic, the degree of economic recovery is far less than expected, and it may even face the possibility of real estate “thunderstorms” and small and medium-sized financial risks.
Xu Zhen told BBC Chinese that he believes that the main reason for this is the lack of technocrats in Xi Jinping’s leadership team who have mastered the international economic and trade situation, causing the economy to “downgrade”. It will be further narrowed in terms of financial integration and other aspects to avoid “deliberately promoting deterioration”. On the other hand, it will also help global investors gradually increase their confidence in investing in China in the long run.
“The United Kingdom is the country with the strongest finance following the United States, and finance is China’s obvious shortcoming,” Xu Zhen said. “So I hope that this meeting will first stabilize the confidence of British companies investing in China, or whether China’s In the medium and long term, the channel for trade with the UK sends a signal to the world that China is open to the outside world, so continued investment in China is likely to yield a steady return.”
He said that following the “20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China”, China has at least changed its attitude. Although there are still frictions, the connection with the United Kingdom and the United States is generally recovering.
“Obviously, (Cleverly’s) visit to China is one of the new phenomena that have occurred in the past, and he is also moving in the same direction to promote the relationship between China and the United Kingdom,” Xu Zhen said, ” The next step is to look at Beijing, don’t pay lip service to reality.”
He analyzed that the milder attitudes towards China in the UK and the US are basically concentrated in the business community, so if Beijing wants to balance the tough attitude towards China in the political, military and academic circles of the UK and the US in the past ten years, it will mainly rely on the business leaders of the UK and the US to do so. .
And now, “It seems that the UK and the US have taken the first step in a virtuous cycle. Next, in terms of market opening, can Beijing better fulfill its commitments when it joined the WTO?”
“The next two to three months are a very important observation window,” he said.
*Some content is reported by Stephen McDonell, BBC Beijing correspondent, Kate Whannel, BBC London correspondent, Damian Grammaticas
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