On Monday, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, while delivering his first major speech on foreign policy, has declared that the U.K.’s ‘Golden Era’ of ties with China was over, describing China’s growing authoritarianism as a “systemic challenge to our values and interests.”
“Let’s be clear, the so-called ‘golden era’ is over, along with the naive idea that trade would lead to social and political reform. We recognize China poses a systemic challenge to our values and interests, a challenge that grows more acute as it moves towards even greater authoritarianism. Instead of listening to their people’s protests, the Chinese government has chosen to crack down further, including by assaulting a BBC journalist,” said Sunak. “Protests against the Chinese government are rare and when they do happen I think the world should take notice, but I think the Chinese government should take notice,” added foreign secretary James Cleverly.
However, a planned meeting between Sunak and China’s President Xi Jinping at this month’s G20 summit in Bali fell through and last week London banned Chinese-made security cameras from sensitive government buildings. Sunak also said that under his leadership Britain would not choose the “status quo” and would confront international competitors “not with grand rhetoric but with robust pragmatism”.