Cleverly and Sunak Defend Engaging with China

Backlash comes after first visit to Beijing by a UK foreign secretary in five years

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Chinese Vice President Han Zheng attend a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Aug. 30, 2023. (Florence Lo/Pool/Reuters)

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary James Cleverly have defended the government’s engagement with Beijing during the latter’s China trip on Wednesday.

The first ministerial visit to China since 2018 has been under criticisms of China hawks and human rights advocates, with former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith comparing the trip to the appeasement of Nazi Germany.

After meetings with China’s Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi and Vice President Han Zheng, Mr. Cleverly told broadcasters it’s “important” to keep talks open to “influence China.”

The foreign secretary said earlier that he’s “clear-eyed” about the UK’s “fundamental disagreements with China” but believes a “pragmatic, sensible working relationship” is needed “because of the issues that affect us all around the globe.”

Speaking in the UK, Mr. Sunak also backed the visit to the country that he says “represents a systemic challenge to the world order.”

The prime minister said the government has been “robust in standing up for the things that matter to us” including by barring Chinese investment from sensitive sectors, but said it’s “sensible” to maintain engagement to “find common ground” on “climate change, global health, or macro-economic stability.

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Ahead of Mr. Cleverly’s China trip, Sir Iain, who’s sanctioned by Beijing for being a vocal critic of the regime’s genocide in Xinjiang, told the PA news agency that the trip was the latest stage of  “Project Kowtow” which would only serve to make Chinese leaders think “we are just too weak.”

Alicia Kearns, the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, who’s also sanctioned by the Chinese regime, backed the visit, telling Sky News it’s “more important that James Cleverly is in the room vociferously disagreeing with them so that they know our position rather than it being them relying on seeing his tweets or media interviews to understand his position.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks during a press conference in Downing Street, London, on July 13, 2023. (Henry Nicholls/PA Media)

Commenting on reports that Mr. Sunak is open to meeting Chinese leader Xi Jinping during the upcoming Group of 20 summit in India next week, Ms. Kearns said they “absolutely” should meet if the opportunity arises because that is “how you prevent and deconflict potential issues.”

Mr. Sunak said his G20 schedule is yet to be finalised.

‘Mutual Respect’

Beijing, with its ailing economy, also seemed eager to repair its relationship with the UK.

Both Mr. Wang and Mr. Han stressed “mutual respect” during their meetings with Mr. Cleverly.

“I believe that as long as both sides adhere to mutual respect, equal treatment, view each other’s development objectively, and enhance mutual understanding and trust, Sino-British relations will be able to eliminate all unnecessary interference and obstacles,” Wang said during the meeting’s opening remarks in front of reporters.

Mr. Han said “the economic and trade areas with mutual respect and pragmatic cooperation between us will surely see new development.”

Mr. Cleverly’s visit comes after four U.S. officials visited Beijing in the past three months including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, climate envoy John Kerry, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

According to a fact sheet (pdf) published by the UK’s Department for Business and Trade, the total trade in goods and services in 2022 between China and the UK was £111 billion, a 50 percent increase from 2018, although the real increase was smaller because the numbers were not adjusted for inflation.

British businesses have shown less confidence in working with China amid the deteriorating political climate and China’s regimes dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

A recent survey by the Institute of Directors found one in five British importers have moved their supply chains away from China, with more considering the move, while the British Chamber of Commerce reported “shaken UK investor confidence” in China’s unpredictable business environment.

Direct investment liabilities, which measure foreign direct investment in China, have recently slumped to a 25-year low.

Foreign Affairs Committee: China Strategy Too Secret

Also on Wednesday, Ms. Kearns’s Foreign Affairs Committee published a report, calling on a government to publish an unclassified version of its secret China strategy.

The report, which examined the government’s latest review of its foreign and defence objectives, said the lack of publicly available government advice or legal restraint made it difficult for individuals and businesses to know where the line is and left loopholes for those who knowingly engage in dubious partnerships with China, enabling them to claim ignorance.

The access to the government’s China strategy requires “the highest possible security level” meaning even some government ministers are barred from seeing it, Ms. Kearns told Sky News.

The committee said it’s “understandable” that the government wants to keep parts of its China strategy from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), “the failure to outline clear foreign policy, let alone a cross-Government stance towards China, makes it difficult for that strategy to be complied with by both state and non-state actors, including civil servants, academics and businesses.”

Soldiers stand guard at the grave sites of the fallen soldiers for a ceremony commemorating the 65th anniversary of the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, in Kinmen, Taiwan, on Aug. 23, 2023. (Ann Wang/Reuters)

The committee also stated Taiwan is effectively an independent country for the first time, urging the government to promote better understanding across Whitehall that the UK’s “One China” policy is not the same as China’s “One China” principle.

The report said committee members learned during an earlier trip to Taiwan that most people want to maintain the status quo across the Taiwan Strait and don’t want to be ruled by the CCP. It also noted that Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen stated that “Taiwan is ‘an independent country already’ so has no need to declare itself an independent state.”

The committee urged the government to foster friendship with Taiwan and nearby “like-minded” countries, and campaign for Taiwan to join international treaties such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and other global bodies.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office didn’t respond to The Epoch Times request for comment.