British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declared Monday that the U.K.'s “golden era” of ties with China was over in his first major speech on foreign policy, describing China's growing authoritarianism as a “systemic challenge to our values and interests."
But Sunak stopped short of calling China a threat, disappointing China hawks in his Conservative Party who had until recently expected him to class China as a “threat” to U.K. security as part of an update of the government's foreign and defense policies.
