British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly visited Beijing on Wednesday, marking the first diplomatic visit by any top diplomat in the UK to China in five years. Cleverly said that he raised concerns over China's human rights violations and stressed the importance of maintaining a "pragmatic" working relationship.
The ties between Britain and China became increasingly hostile over the years over issues pertaining to Beijing's support to Russia in the war with Ukraine, the UK's close ties with the US and China's alleged human rights violations in Hong Kong and the Uyghur minority community in Xinjiang. The visit is aimed towards thawing the relations, although some lawmakers have criticised the trip as a form of appeasement.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has defended Cleverly's trip to China, saying, "It’s perfectly possible to engage with China at the same time as being very robust in standing up for our interests and our values."
Cleverly himself told BBC that disengagement with China is not "credible" and said that his talks with the Chinese government would help avoid "mistrust and errors".
Cleverly's trip to China
According to the British Foreign Secretary, the visit would allow the UK to "re-establish lines of communication" and that lack of face-to-face engagement could lead to "more opportunities for perhaps misinterpretations, mistrust and errors".
"That is why I bring up issues around human rights, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and indeed individual cases every time I have meetings with representatives of the Chinese government," he said. On the topic of China supporting Russia against Ukraine, Cleverly said that Beijing wanted a fair and successful conclusion to the war and it was not in its interests to supports Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions.
He further said that despite the UK government's efforts for a stable economical relationship with China, national security concerns come first.
During his one-day visit on Wednesday, Cleverly met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Vice President Hang Zheng. While noting their souring relations over the years, Wang said that cooperation between China and the UK had a "global impact".
"Dialogue and cooperation are the keywords and main tone of China’s policy towards the UK. Of course, we have also noticed that from time to time there have been some noises in the Sino-British relationship, and some people have even questioned your visit to Beijing," he stressed.
The Chinese Foreign Minister also said that both countries have to bear the common respomnsibility of promotinhg world peace and development, but emphasised that issues related to Hong Kong and Xinjiang are China's "internal business".
After his meeting with Han, Cleverly underscored that both sides need to regularly meet and discuss issues to avoid any kind of misundersytanding and address the challenges in their bilateral relationship. He emphasised on maintaining regular dialogue with Beijing.
British sentiment towards China
Amid a spade of issues, Sunak's government is pursuing a non-confrontational approach in its relations with China. However, the British PM has described Beijing as a "systemic challenge" to the country's values and interests, while focusing on the need to maintain ties with the world's second-largest economy.
The British Parliament's foreign affairs committee has also recently published a report that called Chinese activities as a "threat to the UK and its interests." Sunak's government is currently facing increasing pressure to take a harder stance on China, as the latter is targeting pro-democracy activists abroad - some of whom are living in the UK.
Some lawmakers have called for discouraging use of Chinese-made technology, such as surveillance cameras. However, others have noted that disagreement and keeping up dialogue would be preferable to disengagement.
Sunak is also likely to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the upcoming G20 Summit scheduled in New Delhi on September 9 and 10. However, the British PM has not confirmed such a meeting.
(with inputs from agencies)
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