Foreign Secretary on China, Companies named in Parliament, Hong Konger beaten, AIIB
A Beijing to Britain briefing
Hello,
China is likely to be the most consequential foreign policy (and for many, business) issue over the next decade. As a result, it’s critical for British parliamentarians - elected to represent the British public - to scrutinise the British Government’s approach to this issue properly. One of the most valuable tools for doing so is the Foreign Affairs Committee, a group of MPs elected by Parliament to analyse the actions and strategic thinking of the Foreign Office, and sometimes provide recommendations.
The Committee gets a chance to speak to the Foreign Secretary fairly infrequently - perhaps a handful of times a year. On Monday, I sat in Parliament watching one of these moments play out. As I discuss further in today’s briefing, it was a depressing hour which reflected poorly on many of those involved. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly - who is reported to be visiting China next month - fielded a series of ‘got ya!’ questions, at times allowed himself to be baited into answering them, while bluntly rolling over critical ones raised by more sensible Committee members. Much of the hour was spent discussing issues in vague generalities, with little new thinking or data on display. One senior Labour MP accused the Foreign Secretary of being a “Chinese stooge” because Cleverly said he probably wouldn’t take Security Minister Tom Tugendhat to China with him. And days earlier, former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith called the Foreign Secretary “a total wet rag, who wants to fly out to China to kiss the backside of a regime responsible for shocking abuses of human rights.”
There are a couple of points to take away from this frankly pathetic episode. First, other countries - allies and hostile states - watch what our politicians and policymakers say to and say about each other. So do markets. And so do diaspora groups. What hope do Chinese Brits have if we’re in a position where politicians are accusing the British Foreign Secretary of being a “Chinese stooge”? Words matter, as politicians, who ply their trade using the things, know. Second, interrogating foreign policy doesn’t lend itself to chippy one-liners or simplification aimed at producing a cutesy social media clip, so going after a ‘got-ya!’ moment is usually self-defeating and a waste of everyone’s time. Third, there is power in being provocative, but not in being partisan. This was a waste of a session in which Committee members could have pushed the Government on some of the weaker elements of its China approach, rather than pretending to not know what the role of a Foreign Secretary encompasses. The few moments of insight - questions on supply chains or trade - revealed Cleverly was not comprehensively across the data. However, because the questions either meandered too long or become ‘got-yas!’, they fell short. Finally, the Government needs to get more literate on why MPs feel this level of rage, and Cleverly needs to get across the detail. His answer when pressed on why the Foreign Office didn’t expel the Chinese diplomats who beat a citizen last year was weak, and failed to give the Committee the impression he was taking domestic security as seriously as his efforts to engage China. He may well believe that having the Chinese diplomats leave the country without reciprocation from China was a diplomatic win, but this was poorly communicated. And to not have memorised key facts when pressed on supply chains and critical minerals - both themes anyone could have predicted would arise - meant he waffled and missed the point of the questions.
United States Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken is in town next week, fresh from a highly anticipated visit to the PRC over the weekend. This will be a chance for him to debrief the UK Government and share strategy ahead of Cleverly’s visit next month. The United Kingdom’s relationship with China is evolving - if MPs want to remain useful, their scrutiny and questions must evolve too.
— Sam Hogg, Editor
In this week’s Briefing Note, we look at:
Foreign Affairs Committee session key moments
Taiwan minister in London
Parliamentary ongoing from critical minerals to Procurement
The AIIB allegations and what risks could impact British businesses