The current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak has stated that the “so-called golden era” of relations the UK had with China is over, and he pledged to change the UK’s stance towards China.
This statement was made during his first foreign speech as Prime Minister of the UK, and he mentioned that the close economic ties that the UK had with China for the past ten years had been one of naivety on the part of UK. He said the UK needs to approach their competitors in a more robust and pragmatic manner instead of wishful thinking.
However, PM Sunak warned against the Cold War rhetoric, and he noted that China’s significance during the Cold War could not be ignored. He faced pressure from the Tory backbenchers to tighten the UK’s stance on China since he took over as Tory leader and assumed office as the Prime Minister somewhere last month.
The speech which happened was at the Mayor’s Bouquet in London, and it was organized as a result of the protests that happened in China over the weekend on the zero-Covid policy that was implemented by President Xi. Mr. Sunak announced to his audience who mainly consisted of businessmen and foreign policy experts that in the face of protests, China had chosen to crack down further and they even went farther by assaulting a BBC journalist.
“We recognize China poses a systematic challenge to our values and interests; a challenge that grows more acute as it moves to even greater authoritarianism.”
PM Rishi Sunak
The Golden Era
The Golden Era is a term that is associated with the closer economic relations which was established under former Prime Minister Dave Cameron’s governance, however, the relations between the two countries has been slowly deteriorating.
Mr. Sunak iterated that the significance and contributions of China in world affairs such a s global economic stability and climate change, cannot be overlooked. He added that the UK was going to collaborate with its allies such as the US, Canada. Australia and Japan to manage the sharpening competition through diplomacy and engagements.
The Prime Minister of UK and the President of China were set to meet for the first time at the G20 summit in Indonesia, but due to a missile attack on Poland during the meeting, their encounter was cancelled. It was reported that, Liz Truss, Sunak’s immediate predecessor, was planning during her term to re-group China as a “threat” to the UK as part of a review of its foreign policy.
In his speech, Mr. Sunak stated that more details of the review will be disclosed next year. A former leader of Tory who was actively pushing for a tougher stance with China, Duncan Smith, reacted to the preview of the speech. He wrote in one of the local newspapers, stating that, “China has become a threat to us and our allies.”
Although the exact details of this policy are unknown, individuals are waiting in anticipation to see what this new plan will result in. PM Sunak also mentioned in his speech that he will continue to support Ukraine and promised to “maintain or increase” British military aid to the country next year.
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