Foreign Sec urges UK to cooperate with China, avoid confrontation
3 Min Read
Cleverly's statement hits at the Tory party that has been recently attacking China.
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James Cleverly outside Number 10 Downing Street, in London, Britain, on October 25, 2022 (Reuters)
UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly warned on Tuesday that the UK must cooperate with China rather than isolate it in a “new Cold War" weeks after the release of the government’s updated Integrated Review of Defense and Foreign Policy described ties with China as an “epoch-defining and systemic challenge."
A three-pronged approach is expected to be proposed by Cleverly for ties with China: restricting Chinese involvement in fields critical for national security; fortifying relations with Indo-Pacific allies; and directly engaging with China for stable relation-building.
Cleverly's statement hits at the Tory party that has been recently attacking China, as he is expected to warn against an open confrontation that would hurt British economic interests and potentially limit the West's ability to involve themselves in shared challenges like climate change and nuclear proliferation.
According to words released by his department, the Secretary is anticipated to declare that “it would be clear and easy — perhaps even satisfying — for me to declare a new Cold War and say that our goal is to isolate China... Clear, easy, satisfying — and wrong. Because it would be a betrayal of our national interest and a wilful misunderstanding of the modern world.”
On his part, PM Rishi Sunak has already kept and toughened his attitude toward China by ordering the sale of a Chinese-owned semiconductor plant in Wales last November. He also claimed that China is a systemic threat to UK values and the "most state-based threat to our economic security," adding that he would consider supplying weaponry to Taiwan.
Cleverly has been building alliances with nations close to China and has recently come back from a Pacific tour, since the UK recently entered into agreements to join a Pacific defense pact with Australia and the US, otherwise known as AUKUS, and a free-trade agreement with 11 Pacific rim nations, including Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore.
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Cleverly is expected to pay a visit to China later this year, but this has yet to be confirmed by Downing Street. Weirdly enough, the UK stated that it wants to support British firms working with China but doesn't want to enter strategic reliances.
The Secretary is also scheduled to urge China to be clear about its intent behind the recent military expansion and development in an effort to avoid a “tragic miscalculation", saying that the UK and allies are "prepared to be open about our presence in the Indo-Pacific.”
