NEW SPEECH: The UK's China Strategy, delivered by Foreign Secretary James Cleverly
A Beijing to Britain briefing
Hello,
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has just delivered an unprecedented major speech explicitly on China. Speaking at Mansion House, Cleverly rebuked those who have called for the United Kingdom to “isolate China” and who advocate for a new Cold War framing, arguing it “would be a betrayal of our national interest and a wilful misunderstanding of the modern world.” It was the first time a Foreign Secretary has ever used a Mansion House speech to deliver this sort of speech, and the first time in over a decade a British Secretary of State has explicitly set out the UK’s approach to China.
The Foreign Secretary argued that the United Kingdom should reject fatalism, the Thucydides Trap narrative, and those who hold the view that we are in a new Cold War. Cleverly also discussed Taiwan, Xinjiang, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and called for China to live up to its international obligations.
This briefing provides an executive summary, contextualises and analyses his comments, and includes a full transcript at the end.
Policymakers and CEOs, here’s what you need to know: