China-UK ties: Britain told to balance ‘complacency and paranoia’ over Beijing by London think tank
- In its report on ‘resetting’ UK-China engagement, the British Foreign Policy Group called for more understanding of China’s motivations
- Viewing Beijing as committed to a ‘zero-sum game towards world domination’ lacks historical understanding of its concerns, it said
The British government should invest heavily in boosting its “knowledge and experience base”, including language skills, to reap the “mutual benefits” of engagement with China and better understand its “historical, social, economic and geopolitical motivations”, said the report published by the British Foreign Policy Group.
“Only tiny numbers of Britons study the Chinese language, certainly in comparison with the millions learning English in China,” it reads.
“More attention to learning about Chinese language, society, politics, and history – institutionally, commercially, and societally – will be essential to creating a sustainable UK-China relationship.”
01:54
China hits back at UK claims of forced sterilisations and other human rights abuses against Uygurs
The paper – titled “After the Golden Age: Resetting UK-China Engagement” by British Foreign Policy Group director Sophia Gaston and Rana Mitter, director of the University of Oxford’s China Centre – further called on London to better harness British soft power, including its respected educational and media institutions, and pay more attention to the Chinese diaspora, which play “an increasingly important role in perceptions of Britain within China and should be regarded as an extension of the UK’s soft power”.
While describing China’s authoritarian behaviour as “patently clear”, they also warned that viewing Beijing as being committed to a “zero-sum game towards world domination” lacks historical understanding of its domestic security concerns and risks becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“The UK narrative on China needs to be confident, friendly and firm: a confidence based on deep knowledge and nuanced judgment about what the UK can and cannot accept about China, a friendship that understands its boundaries, and firm in a principled and consistent manner,” the report says.
The British Foreign Policy Group, which was founded with funding from Strategy International – a UK-based holding company for “strategic business development” – describes itself as an independent and non-partisan think tank, refusing money from sources working on behalf of “non-democratic regimes or against the democratic interests of the United Kingdom”.
Peter Gries, director of the Manchester China Institute at the University of Manchester, said Britain would benefit from boosting its China expertise.
“Lacking that knowledge and expertise, the UK’s China policy may become more volatile, wavering between ideologically driven extremes of panda-hugging and dragon-bashing,” he said. “This would undermine the national interest in a stable relationship that defends both British values, and its commercial and security interests.”
Fulda, the author of The Struggle for Democracy in Mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong: Sharp Power and Its Discontents, said increased cultural understanding, while positive, would do little to change the direction of Beijing.
“The sad truth is that no matter how much you learn Mandarin Chinese or immerse yourself in Chinese society and culture, once the Chinese Communist Party designates you as an ‘enemy of the people,’ that’s what you are – no matter what you think, no matter how much love and affection you have for China, no matter how well you know the country and its people,” he said.
Chinese Ambassador to Britain Liu Xiaoming said on Thursday London had “seriously poisoned” relations by interfering in China’s internal affairs.
“China has never interfered in the internal affairs of other countries, including the UK, and we ask the same from other countries,” Liu said, adding that Beijing remained committed to developing positive relations with Britain.
“A sound and stable China-UK relationship is not only in the fundamental interests of the peoples of the two countries, but also conducive to world peace and prosperity.”