Rishi Sunak calls for more ‘diplomacy and engagement’ with China

Rishi Sunak has said the UK needs to “evolve its approach” toward China as he signals closer “diplomacy and engagement” with the burgeoning super power. 

The Prime Minister told the Lord Mayor’s banquet at Guildhall tonight that the “golden era” of UK-China relations pushed by David Cameron “is over”, but that the UK must not ”rely on simplistic Cold War rhetoric”.

He also hit out at the arrest of BBC journalist Ed Lawrence by Shanghai police on Sunday and said the challenge China presents “grows more acute as it moves towards even greater authoritarianism”.

Sunak said during his recent trip to the G20 summit in Indonesia that the UK must work with China to solve global challenges, like climate change. 

The statement was a climbdown from his tough rhetoric against the Chinese Communist Party during the Tory leadership race and may mark a thawing in British-Sino relations.

Sunak tonight said China “poses a systemic challenge to our values and interests”, but that “we cannot simply ignore China’s significance in world affairs”.

“The US, Canada, Australia, Japan and many others understand this too,” he said.

“So together we’ll manage this sharpening competition, including with diplomacy and engagement.”

The Prime Minister will likely come under fire from some of his own MPs for softening his stance against China since the summer, with Tory grandee Sir Iain Duncan Smith becoming an increasingly vocal critic.

Ex-Prime Minister Liz Truss was planning on designating China as an official “threat” instead of a “systemic competitor”, however it is unlikely Sunak will make a similar move.

Security minister, and known China hawk, Tom Tugendhat told ITV that his position on Beijing hasn’t changed since becoming a government minister.

Tugendhat was sanctioned by Beijing last year and was a loud critic of the Chinese regime before entering government.

“You can be assured it’s something I’m holding this government to,” he said.

UK-China relations have become increasingly strained over the past few years as London has followed Washington’s hardline stance against the Chinese Communist Party. 

British sanctions on China for its ethnic cleansing campaign against Uyghur Muslims and for its freedom of speech crackdown in Hong Kong infuriated Beijing.

There has also been dismay in London about attempts by Beijing to exert influence on the UK political system, while the arrest of a BBC journalist in Shanghai on Sunday sparked fury from foreign secretary James Cleverly.

Number 10 today said the UK government will still call out Chinese human rights abuses, like the ethnic cleansing of Uyghur Muslims, but that “cooperation” with Beijing was imperative.