United Nations and Xinjiang, unseen Hikvision letters, Baillie Gifford and Elon Musk on Taiwan
A Beijing to Britain briefing
Hello,
It is now impossible to write about the UK’s relationship with China without first reflecting on the situation the Prime Minister and her Government find themselves in. As the Prime Minister’s political leverage over her party fades in the wake of her ‘mini-budget’, so too does her economic credibility. Both are necessary to push through critical legislation and fund strategic operations that exist well beyond the immediate 24-hour news cycle. With Parliament due to return from Recess on Tuesday, Truss’s entire Downing Street operation is now focusing on trying to save her premiership.
This lack of leverage, coupled with an unpopular economic plan, means the Government has limited political capital and no significant budget to implement the approach to China the Prime Minister outlined during her election campaign. The upcoming ‘Fiscal Plan’ won’t be asking Departments what projects they would like more money for, but instead, who can we cut and what initiatives can we defund? Whisper it, but some would argue that the economic reality is starting to alter the way in which some parts of the media and Westminster think about how Britain should work with China. As today’s Sunday Times argues “It is time for a more consistent approach. This means being tough where necessary and considerate where possible. China is the UK’s biggest import partner — we bought £63.6 billion of goods last year, 13.3 per cent of our total — and our sixth-biggest export partner. Decoupling completely is neither realistic nor desirable. Britain must stand up to China while continuing to deal with it…Ms Truss and her foreign secretary, James Cleverly, must apply [the] spirit of pragmatism to China, too. Bursts of antagonism from leaders who have to grapple with re-election every five years are not the way to contain a strategic rival who thinks in 50-year spans.”
While Government focus may lie elsewhere, life carries on. In today’s briefing, we analyse in depth a recent effort to hold a United Nations debate on Xinjiang, and ask what it means for British diplomacy. Elsewhere, we bring you the news that a Chinese company seems to have taken a strategic decision to go on the front foot against the British Government. Surveillance company Hikvision has sent a Freedom of Information request to the Government’s Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner in a move that could be read as an escalation in the battle between the two. Finally, we reflect on how the British Government is out of step with a series of new initiatives and blacklists coming out of America.
Parliament returns from Recess this week.