A senior executive at HSBC has apologised after saying the “weak” UK government had caved in to the US in its approach to doing business with China. Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, the bank’s head of public affairs and a former British diplomat, said sorry after “sharing his personal views” on Britain’s policy towards Beijing at a private event, a spokesperson for HSBC said. They added that Cowper-Coles’s comments were made under the Chatham House rule, a longstanding convention that means those in attendance cannot attribute remarks at an event to individual…
Tag: Foreign policy
How can the west best tackle the threat from China? First, it must stop panicking | Kerry Brown
In the figure of Xi Jinping, with his dominant political personality and assertive communicative style, many in the west have found the autocrat they always feared would one day confront them. For Xi and the people around him, combatting what his administration calls “western universalism”, and western attempts to infiltrate China’s politics through economic and cultural engagement, has been a major task. Now the Xi threat has come right into our own back yard. A recent report by the British parliamentary intelligence and security committee (ISC) defines the nature of…
Labour plans new taskforce to target contractors linked to hostile nations
Contractors linked to hostile foreign powers such as China will be targeted by a new security taskforce if Labour wins the next general election. In a joint initiative from the shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, and the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, the new body will aim to anticipate risks to Britain’s national security. It comes just days after the deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, said China represents the “largest state-based threat” to Britain’s economic security. The government intervened in eight attempted takeovers of UK firms by Chinese buyers last year…
China engaged in ‘whole of state’ assault on UK, report says
China’s state institutions are aggressively targeting the UK, putting the country on course for a nightmare scenario that represents not just a commercial challenge but an existential threat to liberal democratic systems, parliament’s influential all-party intelligence and security committee has found. The inquiry – launched in 2019 and subject to various delays was completed in May – is scathing about the failure of the UK to wake up to the scale of the systemic challenge posed by the Chinese government’s “whole of state” assault on the British economy, politics, civil…
MPs call for sanctions on Hong Kong officials targeting UK-based activists
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…
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…