The UK risks becoming a dumping ground for the products of forced labour from Xinjiang province in China if it rejects reforms by members of the foreign affairs select committee with cross-party support, ministers have been warned. An amendment to the energy bill, due to be debated on Tuesday, would require solar energy companies to prove their supply chains are free of slave labour. The Xinjiang region is the source of 35-40% of the world’s solar-grade polysilicon, the key raw material in the solar photovoltaic supply chain. The amendment to…
Tag: Trade policy
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…
UK MPs urge minister to do more to free Hongkongers’ trapped savings
The first British ministerial visit to Hong Kong since the introduction of draconian Chinese security laws five years ago was a chance to demand that China unlock more than £2bn in pensions belonging to British overseas passport holders who fled for the UK, former cabinet ministers have told the Foreign Office. A letter signed by more than 90 MPs, including 10 former ministers, urges the trade minister Dominic Johnson to do more to release frozen savings belonging to thousands of Hongkongers. Lord Johnson’s three-day visit to Hong Kong heavily focused…
How war in Taiwan could mean the wheels come off the UK economy
As the world struggles with the economic fallout from the Ukraine war, fears are mounting about a conflict that would be even more consequential: a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Last week, Taiwan’s foreign minister said he was preparing for the possibility of a conflict with China in 2027, and a leaked memo from a four-star US general said his “gut” told him the US – which is committed to defending Taiwan – would be at war with China in 2025. The UK foreign secretary warned last week that such a…
Brexiters have a new threat to focus their nationalism on: China. But their influence is waning | Martin Kettle
Cleverly by name. And perhaps even Cleverly by nature, too? Judging by his Guardian interview this week, and by his step-by-step rebuilding of Britain’s relations with Europe, James Cleverly seems to be quietly cajoling Conservative foreign policy down off the post-Brexit battlements and towards a more recognisably practical and stable place in world affairs. If so, two important questions follow. Where exactly is that new place for Britain? And will the Tory party let him do it? The foreign secretary’s interview in Tokyo exemplifies Rishi Sunak-era pragmatism. The interview’s tone…
UK pays EU £2.3bn to settle China import row
The UK government has paid £2.3bn to the EU as part of a long-standing dispute over textiles and footwear imported into the UK from China. The final payment of £1.1bn, made this week, brings the case to a close. The chief secretary to the Treasury, John Glen, confirmed the payment in a written statement to the Commons. “Whilst the UK has now left the European Union and this is a legacy matter from before our departure, the government is keen to resolve this long-running case once and for all and…