Cold War with China Would Betray Britain’s National Interest, Claims Foreign Secretary

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Kurt Zindulka

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said it is not in Britain’s national interest to isolate Communist China in a new Cold War, arguing that London needs to engage with Beijing on such issues as climate change and pandemic prevention.

In an address delivered at the annual Lord Mayor’s Easter Banquet at Mansion House in the British capital on Tuesday, James Cleverly, the nation’s top diplomat, rejected calls from within his own party to take a harder line on China, calling instead for cooperation with the communist state.

“It would be clear and easy – and perhaps even satisfying – for me to declare some kind of new Cold War and say that our goal is to isolate China,” Mr Cleverly said.

“It would be clear, it would be easy, it would be satisfying and it would be wrong. Because it would be a betrayal of our national interest and a wilful misunderstanding of the modern world.”

The foreign secretary went on to say that “no significant global problem – from climate change to pandemic prevention, from economic stability to nuclear proliferation – can be solved without China.”

Like Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who was essentially endorsed by Chinese state media in last year’s leadership race to replace Boris Johnson for his “pragmatic” view on relations with China, Cleverly also refused to label the rouge regime a “threat” or even an “adversary”, claiming that to do so would be “impossible, impractical and – most importantly – unwise.”

While he said that the British government would continue to call out the Chinese leadership on the atrocities being committed in Xinjiang and the violations of the democratic promises guaranteed to the former British colony of Hong Kong, Cleverly said that it is necessary for the UK to continue “engaging and trading with China where our interests converge”.

With the brief exception of Liz Truss, who holds the distinction of being Britain’s shortest-tenured prime minister, successive Conservative Party-led governments in Westminster have sought to increase trade ties with China, which as of 2021 was the UK’s largest importing trade partner.

This stance from the Tories, which began in earnest during the so-called “golden era” of Sino-UK relations under David Cameron, looks to continue under Prime Minister Sunak, who has himself been a long-standing advocate for more trade with China.

In perhaps his most strident stance of the evening, the foreign secretary, who is also a Lieutenant Colonel in the British Army, warned Beijing against launching an invasion of Taiwan, a democratic and independent nation, which despite never having been under the control of the CCP, Beijing still claims rights to.

Recognising the potential threat of a cross-Straight war, he noted that “China is carrying out the biggest military build-up in peacetime history. In a period of just 4 years – between 2014 and 2018 – China launched new warships exceeding the combined tonnage of the Royal Navy’s entire active fleet.”

“If we are left to draw our own conclusions, prudence dictates that we must assume the worst. And yet of course we could be wrong: it is possible that we will be too cautious and too pessimistic.”

“I shudder to contemplate the human and financial ruin that would follow. So it’s essential that no party takes unilateral action to change the status quo.”

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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