As Beijing mobilizes against Hong Kong\u2019s pro-democracy movement and London looks to lock Huawei out of its 5G future, Ango-Chinese relations are in freefall.<\/b>
\nIn 2015, George Osborne – then the U. K.\u2019s finance minister – crowed that Britain was China\u2019s \u201cbest partner in the West\u201d.
What a difference five years can make.
As Beijing mobilizes against Hong Kong\u2019s pro-democracy movement, and London looks to lock Huawei out of its 5G future, Ango-Chinese relations are in freefall.
On Monday (July 6), things came to a head. The U. K. is guilty of \u201cgross interference,\u201d decried Ambassador Liu Xiaoming, Beijing\u2019s man in Britain, in typically sharp-tongued fashion.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson\u2019s plan to offer millions of Hong Kongers a path to British citizenship – an escape route for those fleeing mainland China\u2019s national security law – was the object of his ire.
\u2018The Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region\u2019, as the controversial new piece of legislation is officially known, seeks to stamp out the city’s pro-democracy unrest once and for all.
Denigrating China’s central government is now illegal, and acts of vandalism against public facilities – a regular occurance as protests hit fever pitch last year – can now be investigated as terrorism.
Though Beijing maintains that the law is measured, opponents warn freedom of speech has effectively been ended. Chillingly, education officials in Hong Kong have been ordered to remove books that are deemed to be in violation of the new rules, Reuters reports.
For the U. K. government, such flagrant authoritarianism is unacceptable. When, in 1997, Britain handed Hong Kong – a former colony – back to China, a ‚one country, two systems‘ arrangement was agreed, protecting the city\u2019s democratic rights for at least fifty years.
This accord has been reneged on, says London, which last week offered 3 million Hong Kongers the right to work, and eventually settle, in the UK.
It was a bold diplomatic move – and one fraught with danger.
As Britain finalises its divorce from the European Union, recasting the U. K. as an outward looking, global trading nation is London\u2019s priority. With transatlantic trade talks faltering, and post-Brexit negotiations with Europe perilously close to collapse, robust relations with China – the world\u2019s second largest economy – are important now more than ever.
British exports to the East Asian giant were worth some \u00a322.6 billion in 2018, making it the U. K.\u2019s sixth largest foreign market. The same year, imports amounted to \u00a344.7 billion.
Despite these appreciable numbers, a certain anti-Chinese sentiment has seeped into Britain\u2019s ruling Conservative party of late. In April, the Sino-sceptic \u2018China Research Group\u2019 was formed, a space for Tory lawmakers fearful of Beijing\u2019s \u201caggressive economic policies\u201d.
Much of their focus is on tech behemoth Huawei; which, beside Hong Kong, represents a second front in Britain and China\u2019s dichotomous diplomatic breakdown.
Until recently, Huawei was earmarked for a sizable role in the U. K.\u2019s future 5G infrastructure, but under pressure from U. S. President Donald Trump – an avowed enemy of the Chinese telecoms firm – Johnson looks set for a high-speed volte-face.
\u201cIf you dance to the tune of other countries, how can you call yourself Great Britain?\u201d asked Ambassador Liu in response to the news, adding that a u-turn on Huawei would send a \u201cvery bad message to other Chinese businesses“.
This, in essence, is the conundrum facing Brexit Britain. It wants to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the world\u2019s trading titans, but the global arena is a fractured, belligerent place at present. Winning U. S. affection means antagonising China, and vice versa.
All the while having to contemplate post-COVID reconstruction, that\u2019s a serious problem.<\/p>\n