Hong Kong officials involved in targeting UK-based pro-democracy activists who had bounties placed on them should be subject to sanctions, opposition and Tory backbenchers have urged the UK government. A Foreign Office minister responding to concerns raised in parliament was also challenged by one of her Conservative colleagues over her recent meeting with a Chinese official whom the Tory MP Tim Loughton described as “China’s chief dissident snatcher”. MPs were discussing an urgent question in the House of Commons after Hong Kong police on Monday offered a reward equal to…
Tag: Foreign policy
Sunak urged to rethink visit by Chinese official accused of deporting dissidents
A cross-party group of British MPs and peers has written to the prime minister urging him to reconsider a decision to allow a visit this week by a senior Chinese government official accused of overseeing the forcible deportation of hundreds of dissidents back to China, including some from the UK. Liu Jianchao, the head of the international department of the Communist party of China central committee, is due to speak at the Chatham House thinktank and meet UK parliamentarians. Victims of China’s transnational extraditions and their families are exploring if…
Britain to remove Chinese surveillance gear from government sites
Britain has announced the removal of Chinese-made surveillance equipment from sensitive government sites as part of plans to address concerns they could be used for spying by China. The government told its departments last year to stop installing Chinese-linked CCTV cameras in sensitive buildings. In an announcement about a tightening of procurement rules, the Cabinet Office said: “We will also commit to publish a timeline for the removal of surveillance equipment produced by companies subject to China’s National Intelligence Law from sensitive central government sites.” The statement did not name…
Sunak has ‘little England mentality’ over UK foreign policy, says Lammy
Shadow foreign secretary says Britain risks isolation in global debates on China, AI and climate crisis Rishi Sunak has demonstrated a “little England mentality” in foreign relations, David Lammy has argued, warning the UK risks marginalising itself in vital global debates on China, AI and the climate emergency. Speaking shortly before Sunak heads to Washington for a meeting with Joe Biden, the shadow foreign secretary said cuts to areas such as overseas aid, the British Council and BBC World Service were further hampering the UK’s soft power and making it…
Richard Marles meets Gen Li Shangfu, as Chinese defence minister refuses formal meeting with US counterpart
Australian defence minister Richard Marles has met his Chinese counterpart and called for “safe and professional interactions” between military planes and ships in the Indo-Pacific region. Marles is also believed to have raised concerns about the ongoing detention of Australian citizens and human rights issues during talks with China’s defence minister, Gen Li Shangfu, at a regional security summit in Singapore. The meeting, held on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue late on Saturday, was notable in large part because Li Shangfu had refused to have a formal meeting with…
Zelenskiy uses G7 summit to reach beyond the west for support
Normally G7 summits are about battling for the free world comma by comma, as diplomats parse lengthy communiques of ephemeral significance long into the night. Words, after all, constitute much of a diplomat’s work. At the Hiroshima G7 some of the communiques emerging from the summit do matter, notably the toolbox on de-risking trade with China, but the true significance of the summit lay in Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s scene-stealing visit courtesy of a ride in Emmanuel Macron’s French aircraft. It was the culmination of a Ukrainian realisation that for months they…
China poses biggest threat to global security, says Sunak
China poses the biggest challenge to global security and prosperity of our age with the “means and intent to reshape the world order”, Rishi Sunak has said. The UK prime minister said G7 leaders including Japan, the US, Canada and European nations had shown “unity and resolve” in confronting the problems posed by Beijing. The statement from the G7 nations referred to “de-risking” rather than “de-coupling” from their relationship with China amid warnings from France that the summit should not be seen as being anti-Beijing. However, Sunak went further than…
Sunak to urge G7 support for collective action against ‘economic coercion’
The UK and other G7 countries are planning collective action against Russia and China if they threaten trade boycotts for political reasons, announcing a new body to deal with “economic coercion”. Rishi Sunak will urge “bold and pragmatic collective action” against hostile states that stop trading with other countries when they disagree with their geopolitical decisions. He will cite Russia’s stranglehold on European gas supplies last year as a situation that could have been met with a collective response. Other examples include China’s punitive tariffs on Australian wine after Canberra…
China aims to subordinate the west, claims US politician on UK visit
Beijing wants to “subordinate and humiliate” the west, according to the Republican chair of a newly created China committee in Congress, who is leading a delegation of hawkish US politicians on a two-day trip to the UK. Mike Gallagher argued that China, under President Xi Jinping, believed in “the inevitable demise of capitalism”, and said he hoped to better understand how far British politicians of all parties shared his committee’s concerns. The goal of Beijing, Gallagher argued, was “to render us subordinate, humiliated and irrelevant on the world stage and…
US China hawks to press UK minister for tougher line on Beijing
A Republican-led group of China hawks from the US Congress will visit Westminster on Friday where they are expected to meet the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, for lunch and press for the UK to take a tougher line on Beijing. The 11-strong delegation is led by the Republican congressman Mike Gallagher, who chairs a high-profile, newly created China committee. Some fear a strident anti-Beijing tone will alienate centrist and left-leaning politicians in the UK. Gallagher has called for a total ban on the Chinese-owned app TikTok, and argued in the…