Foreign policy requires compromises, evasions and sometimes acceptance of uncomfortable allies – but there comes a point when a choice must be made 🖋️ EliotWilson2 for ipaperviews
struck. But in 2019 the UK signed a UNHCR letter condemning China’s brutal repression of the Uyghurs. In 2020, the UK Government openly opposed the Hong Kong national security law which curtailed freedoms guaranteed in the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984.
How do we manage our relationship with China? The first requirement must be to have a single coherent strategic framework. We need to more than state the dilemma, as the: there must be an “owner” of China policy which covers diplomacy, defence, trade, national security and inward investment. That owner, whether a senior minister or a cabinet committee, will need to consider in stark terms how far we are willing to go in balancing the challenges China presents.
The most pressing issue is Taiwan. In my judgement, it is likely that China will make some attempt to subdue Taiwan within the next five years. This will be our test. If we stand by and allow China to absorb or somehow dominate its neighbour, the signal we will send will be obvious: we value any economic relationship with China over any other consideration.
This seems an intractable dilemma, a choice no politician can make, with too many factors to take into account. But it isn’t really, is it? Foreign policy requires compromises, evasions and sometimes the acceptance of uncomfortable allies. Every diplomat knows that. But when the choice is distilled, as China may distil it, to a choice between trade on the one hand, and the preservation of law, freedom and human rights on the other, we know instinctively that we choose the latter.
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