British lawmakers call for stronger approach to 'threat' posed by Beijing's rising influence
A group of British lawmakers have called for the UK government to be more aggressive in confronting Beijing and addressing an ongoing "threat" posed by China's rising influence under President Xi Jinping, particularly on human rights issues.
In recent years, Britain's policy towards China has evolved from an era of cooperation under former prime minister David Cameron to today's confusing and incoherent approach - each time driven by economics, according to Jim Shannon, a Democratic Unionist Party MP.
"There is a real fear that a focus solely on money will mean that the UK's fundamental beliefs in human rights and rule of law are being subjugated for the purpose of trade gains," Shannon said during a debate on China-UK relations in Westminster Hall on Thursday.
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"This would be great for China and all of the authoritarian states watching, but terrible for the UK and its standing in the world," he added. "This is where I am urging extreme caution. We are watching real time the reduction of democratic states and the rise of authoritarian regimes."
Cameron had pushed for greater investment and economic ties as part of what was dubbed a "golden era" of cooperation between the countries, during which Chinese President Xi Jinping make a state visit to Britain in 2015.
More recently, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has faced pressure from a cross-party group of China hawks to take firmer measures to address issues raised by China's rise, including alleged human rights abuses against ethnic Uygur Muslims in Xinjiang, a controversial national security law in Hong Kong and concerns over Beijing's potential access to personal data of Britons.
In particular, a number of MPs had hoped that China would be labelled a strategic threat in a recent refresh of Britain's defence and diplomatic strategy.
Sunak, who has advocated for a more nuanced approach, described China as an "epoch-defining challenge" to the international order as part of the review, but did not go so far as to describe China as a strategic threat.
"We will work with our partners to engage with Beijing on issues such as climate change," he said on Monday.
"But where there are attempts by the Chinese Communist Party to coerce or create dependencies, we will work closely with others to push back against them."
Officials have pointed to a number of measures used by Britain's government in the past year to counter China, including the National Security Investment Act to block some foreign takeovers in sensitive sectors, a great focus on expanding its ties in the Indo-Pacific region and the Aukus military alliance with Australia and the United States.
On Thursday, the UK banned the use of Chinese social media app TikTok on government-issued phones, following similar moves by the US and the European Union.
During Thursday's debate, Tim Loughton, a Conservative Party MP and longtime China critic, said Xi is effectively becoming a "dictator for life" after he was elected to an unprecedented third term as China's president by the National Party Congress this month and expressed concerns over the country's aspirations under Xi, particularly his vow to reunify Taiwan and China.
"For previous governments to refer to golden ages of relationships between the United Kingdom, the West and China under this same dictator expressing those words is complete fancy and dangerous fantasy," Loughton said. "We need to wake up to that."
"I worry greatly about the threat that China poses," he added. "It is a threat whatever language the government might like to use."
China's embassy in London did not respond to a request for comment about the parliamentary debate or the move against TikTok.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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