Britain’s China policy tells a tale of confusion. Long gone are the chummy images of David Cameron and Xi Jinping sampling local ales in Buckinghamshire. Yet the Government does not seem quite as keen as the United States to turbocharge “decoupling” or “derisking” from Beijing. Instead, it is pursuing a middle way.
To that end, James Cleverly travelled to China to meet senior officials including the vice president. This is the first visit by a UK foreign secretary to China for five years, with Cleverly seeking to “address the challenges and differences of opinion that all countries have in bilateral relations”. Those differences are vast — and growing. First and foremost is China’s treatment of Uyghurs, which in 2021 Parliament voted to declare a genocide. Other disagreements include the Chinese Communist Party effectively ending democracy in Hong Kong, and its threats, both rhetorical and military, towards Taiwan.
