Macroscope | Britain’s quest for a role in China’s Belt and Road is a journey to nowhere because of the UK’s disconnection from Europe
- China is intent on a connection with the heartland of industrial Europe, not with an island that wants to sever its umbilical cord with the continent
- Unless China is interested in Britain’s ports, it’s difficult to see how Beijing can regard the UK as a key link in the Belt and Road
Britain is at the end of the road, not only because of its messy attempt to leave the European Union, but also because of its physical position with regard to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Unlike Italy, which is set to become a way station for the BRI’s march into continental Europe, all roads from Britain lead to nowhere.
As the UK staggers and stumbles toward some kind of exit from the EU, like a drunken man through a revolving door, some Brexiteers are looking to a UK-China free trade agreement as a way out of threatened isolation; Belt and Road to the rescue, as it were.
But this misses the logistical imperative: it is with the heartland of industrial Europe that China is intent on connecting, not with an island that is threatening to sever its umbilical cord with the continent. The best that Britain can hope for is to become an offshore financing centre for the BRI.
Kent Calder, a prominent expert on Northeast Asia, put this very succinctly in a conversation I had with him on China’s strategy in Europe.