Labour's China plans, Defence Strategy, AI at the UN
A Beijing to Britain briefing
Hello,
According to some seasoned political hacks, there is a fair chance that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will call an early election some time next spring. According to current polling, Labour would win that election - fully aware of this, Kier Starmer’s party has been on the offensive over the last couple of months. Perhaps unusually for Labour, given it has been perceived as a weak spot in the last couple of years, the party has also been keen to set out its foreign policy and defence shop. This week was packed with speeches and pledges, which we will unpack in today’s briefing and monitor until the next election.
Speak to grizzled politicos, and they will tell you that foreign policy rarely impacts general election votes. In light of Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, and the British public seeing the inherently intertwined nature of foreign and domestic policy (invasion = higher energy bills, inflation), one does wonder if it’s being underpriced at the next election. I made the case last summer for why the Conservative leadership candidates would likely harden their China rhetoric on the campaign trail, and I suspect we will see the same from Labour in the coming months.
After all, as recent polling from the British Foreign Policy Group revealed, the majority of Britons (74%) they spoke to are strongly or somewhat distrustful of China’s ability to act responsibly in the world, including 46% of Britons who strongly distrust the nation. Human rights remains the most popular issue the public wants the Government to engage China on - ahead of technology or infrastructure.
Understanding and building capacity around China-related issues still looms large over any potential British Government. Cut through all the noise and policy promises, and the crux of the issue remains, as Beijing to Britain was the first to flag some months ago, that the Labour Party believes on record that General Secretary Xi Jinping’s party is committing genocide in Xinjiang. Given Kier Starmer constantly reminds voters old and new that he is a man of integrity with a legal background, it will be worth watching very closely indeed how Labour plans to manoeuvre around this issue.
— Sam Hogg, Editor
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In this week’s Briefing Note, we look at:
Labour’s China speeches
Defence Command Paper
AI, UK and China
New trade figures