Britain will regret getting into bed with the most brutal and unreliable of regimes.
The Prime Minister’s face-to-face meeting with President Xi Jinping at the G20 raises concern for many, as it appeared not to understand the nature of China’s governing Communist Party.
You couldn’t fail to notice how as Starmer started to raise concerns about human rights issues, the media who were present in the room were ejected and the microphones switched off.
What concerns me is that Starmer’s reasons for the meeting were surprisingly obtuse. He said that, “The UK will be predictable, consistent, and free of unnecessary surprises, in line with prior agreements…” Really, in line with prior agreements? Had he not noticed how unreliable any agreement is with China? Does he not recall what happened to the Sino/British agreement on Hong Kong? President Xi simply trashed it when it no longer suited his purposes and is now arresting and imprisoning peaceful Democracy campaigners including Jimmy Lai.
Perhaps he meant to communicate that the UK will do nothing if China breaks agreements. After all, the USA has sanctioned a large number of senior officials in Hong Kong for the breaking of the treaty, while the UK has sanctioned no one.
Also, before this meeting did the Prime Minister not get informed about Xi’s four red lines he’d stated previously at a meeting with President Biden, which Xi made clear, “allow no challenge.” They are the Taiwan issue, democracy and human rights, China’s path and system, the right to development.
This is now the very clear and tough message to the Western democracies. China will do as it pleases and will brook no interference – and they are not for discussion.
Those suffering under the brutal hands of Xi already feel betrayed. After all, in the mad rush to get to net zero by 2030, we are already turning a blind eye to our import of Solar arrays in vast numbers made in Xinjiang in China, containing polysilicon, using slave labour.
The problem with this meeting to talk about trade is that China are getting ready to dump electric cars and batteries on the UK market.
President Trump is planning significant tariffs on Chinese goods; he realises that point. It is abundantly clear that China, in contravention of WTO rules, uses state subsidies to undercut the market. That rule breaking has driven out many British and Western companies from viable global markets. One only needs to look at what happened in telecoms, as Huawei drove out most other competitors.
The problem that now faces Starmer is what he is going to do when the USA and potentially the EU put tariffs on Chinese goods. Whilst Starmer seems to want to “war game” tariff responses with Europe to our most important trading partner the US concerning Trump’s warnings on tariffs, he is strangely silent on China’s dumping of EV’s.
It’s ironic that at a time when many companies are moving away from China, while deeply concerned about IP theft and anti-competitive practices, the Government wants to pin its future growth hopes on getting into bed with this most unreliable and brutal of regimes.
The UK Government, desperate for clean energy, is going to open the doors and turn a blind eye to products made by highly polluting oil gas and most of all coal fired power stations. It’s alright if the UK has lower emissions as long as someone else is doing the polluting.
China, a regime that persecutes Christian churches, is the largest organ harvester and seller in the world. A regime that has invaded the South China seas and threatens Taiwan on a daily basis and supports Russia in its brutal invasion of Ukraine.
If we are turning away from all that, small wonder then that Keir Starmer’s government isn’t in a hurry to enact the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, (FIRS) let alone put China in the highest tier of risk.
This weakening of their previous stance on China when in Opposition now sadly becomes clearer with this meeting between President Xi and Starmer.
Labour in opposition voted to acknowledge a genocide in Xinjiang, putting legitimate pressure on the Conservative government. I worry now that it seems to be turning its back on all that.
