British foreign minister James Cleverly will push China to be more transparent about its “tragic miscalculation” military build-up.
British-Chinese relations are at their worst in decades after London blocked Chinese investment over national security concerns and expressed worry about Beijing’s military and economic aggression.
On Tuesday, Cleverly will urge for a “robust and constructive” partnership with Beijing at Mansion House in London’s historic financial sector.
Cleverly will caution China about its military objectives and said Britain is ready to deepen collaboration with Indo-Pacific partners.
“I urge China to be equally open about the doctrine and intent behind its military expansion, because transparency is surely in everyone’s interests and secrecy can only increase the risk of tragic miscalculation,” Cleverly would say, according to official excerpts.
China continues to use force to unify Taiwan. However, it will protect its marine rights, sovereignty, and interests.
Cleverly’s speech best explains Britain’s strategy to China under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who announced at the end of last year that the “golden era” of ties under David Cameron was finished.
The London Chinese embassy did not reply to a request for comment.
While the presidents of France, Germany, and Spain have visited China in the last six months and urged for dialogue with the world’s second-largest economy, the US and Britain are taking a stronger approach to what they see as a rising danger from Beijing to their interests and values.
While trading with China, Britain has worked to reduce national security risks.
Foreign policy ideas are usually presented in the foreign minister’s yearly Mansion House address. However, in acknowledgment of China’s “huge significance” to world events, Cleverly’s address will focus completely on China.
Cleverly, who intends to visit China this year, will argue that China must be engaged in climate change, pandemic prevention, economic stability, and nuclear proliferation.
“It would be clear and easy – perhaps even satisfying – for me to declare a new Cold War,” he would remark. “Clear, easy, satisfying – and wrong.”
Cleverly will add that Britain will preserve its national security interests and call out Beijing if it violates international responsibilities or human rights.
He’ll also criticize Xinjiang’s Uyghur treatment.
“A 21st-century version of the gulag archipelago” and “locking up over a million people at the height of this campaign, often for doing nothing more than observing their religion” are his charges against China.
China strongly denies Xinjiang abuse charges.
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