Truss on Taiwan, Hikvision, UK and Japan, Hong Kong
A Beijing to Britain brief
Parliament is currently on Recess, so this week’s offering will be shorter.
Hello,
This was a week of elections. On Thursday, British voters went to the polls. Depending on who you ask, the results were either a win/loss for the Conservatives/Labour that indicate they will/won’t win the next election. Rumours began circulating that a reshuffle is on the cards for Summer, with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss being touted to replace Rishi Sunak as Chancellor. Across the other side of the world, Carrie Lam’s successor in Hong Kong has been officially voted in today. John Lee , sanctioned by the US Government, received some 99% of the 1,461 votes available – representing roughly 0.02% of the city’s population as the Guardian notes - in the Hong Kong Chief Executive election.
On the diplomatic front, distracted by voting news, few took note of a landmark defence agreement signed between the UK and Japan, which included promises to collaborate on the UK’s alternative to the Belt and Road Initiative. Meanwhile in an article published today, Truss positions Taiwan’s future as being an issue of defensive importance for the UK.
Elsewhere, the Financial Times reports Biden is considering sanctioning Chinese firm Hikvision, causing its share price to fall 10%. As we have pointed out multiple times over the last 18 months, this company is deeply embedded at almost every level across British society - in councils, hospitals and Government departments. Once again the British Government finds itself facing domestic and international political pressure, backed into a corner with how to deal with a Chinese tech company. In the City, The Telegraph considers pressure on HSBC to split in light of Truss’s recent speech, while The Times examines what a split would actually look like. And in the latest in a long line of them, Arm’s newest controversy includes their China Chief refusing to step down and hiring six bodyguards.
Welcome to ‘Beijing to Britain’ - a weekly overview of the ebbs and flows of the discussion in Westminster and the City around the UK’s relationship with China, and how it impacts politics, the private sector and society.
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