For years, Britain’s policy towards China has put business and finance ahead of politics and security. David Cameron’s Conservative government rolled out the red carpet, quite literally, for China’s Xi Jinping in 2015, after his chancellor, George Osborne, pledged to make the UK Beijing’s “best partner in the west”. Now Boris Johnson is rightly, if belatedly, contemplating a sweeping reset. Britain needs to couch its relationship in a carefully calibrated framework that recognises China as a strategic rival.
The increasingly repressive nature of the Xi regime already provided ample reason to rethink British links, as did a Chinese foreign policy that is ever more assertive in challenging western interests. Mutual finger-pointing over the coronavirus pandemic has deepened tensions between the US and China, making it increasingly difficult for the UK to maintain ties with its biggest foreign ally while also courting the rising Asian power.
China’s move to impose a national security law on Britain’s former colony of Hong Kong has, however, breached a red line. As the country that negotiated the 1997 handover agreement with Beijing, the UK has a historical and moral obligation to take the lead in countering China’s decision to crack down on the special administrative region. It is vital that the “Global Britain” Mr Johnson wants to establish now that the UK has left the EU does not retreat from its commitment to defend human rights, democracy and rule of law. As many in Mr Johnson’s party are impressing upon him, the UK cannot carry on regardless when Beijing is burying the “one country, two systems” principle that was supposed to govern Hong Kong’s relationship with China until 2047.
The prime minister deserves credit for offering a “path to UK citizenship” for almost 3m Hongkongers who hold or are eligible to apply for British National (Overseas) passports, in a striking break with the hostility to migrants his cabinet often evinces. The government should now set out what that path entails and be ready to accept all those — probably far less than 3m — who will want to come to the UK.
The prospect of more adversarial relations with Beijing over Hong Kong also reshape the context of this year’s decision to allow Huawei a limited role in the UK’s 5G telecoms network, despite concerns this could provide a back door for Chinese spying or sabotage. The core reasoning behind the decision still applies, though, including the cost and delay that would result from barring Huawei completely from 5G and forcing operators to remove it from 4G networks on which the next generation will initially piggyback.
The prime minister should stick to the earlier compromise, limiting Huawei to non-core parts of the network and a 35 per cent overall share by 2023. But he should work closely with the US and EU partners to bolster alternative western suppliers.
The government is right to seek to reduce British reliance on China for other critical products, under a supply-chain review called Project Defend. A mooted law obliging UK companies to report takeovers that might give rise to security risks is prudent. There is no reason to sever business and investment ties in uncontentious areas. But a clear-eyed assessment of future Chinese involvement, especially in key infrastructure, is important.
The west as a whole needs realistic engagement with China, not the retreat into hostile opposing camps that typified cold war relations with Russia. The UK should be no exception to that principle. But it can equally no longer carry on business with Beijing on the same basis as before.
