David Lammy is Beijing-bound as he seeks to kickstart what many suspect will be a “diplomatic rapprochement”, as the first member of Britain’s new Labour government to engage in some face-to-face diplomacy with China.
The foreign secretary will hold talks – and dine – with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during his two-day visit.
The brief visit by Lammy’s predecessor, James Cleverly, to Beijing last August was the first by a top British diplomat in five years. And a meeting between Britain and China’s leaders has not taken place since 2018, when Prime Minister Theresa May visited Chinese soil.
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Rishi Sunak has certainly rushed to accuse his successor of bending over to appease Beijing. Hawkish Tories figures have objected to reports that former Taiwanese leader, Tsai Ing-wen, who had been invited to visit the UK this month by a parliamentary group, has now been asked to postpone the trip because the government was afraid of upsetting Beijing ahead of Lammy’s visit.
Yet Labour figures have argued that their party has sought inspiration from a country that is hardly renowned for its doveish stance towards Beijing. Starmer and Lammy claim their approach to handling China will be defined by three C’s: “cooperating” on matters of shared interest, “competing” where they have different interests, and “challenging” on areas of disagreement.
Hardly an original slogan. The Biden administration has used practically the same three words – albeit a slightly more aggressive third – to describe their own approach towards Beijing: “compete, cooperate and confront”.
In a recent article for Foreign Affairs on his so-called “progressive realism”, Lammy insisted the UK must “recognise China’s importance to the British economy … accepting that no grouping of states can address the global threats of the climate crisis, pandemics and artificial intelligence unless it cooperates with Beijing”.
His trip tomorrow is likely to focus heavily on strengthening economic ties, and increasing Chinese investment in the UK. Cooperation on the green economy is expected to be a big talking point too. Understandably so: trade between the UK and China is worth around £110bn a year, while the UK’s transition to green energy is only increasing Britain’s dependence on Beijing, thanks to the latter’s near-monopoly on Lithium.
Yet, while China remains an undeniably vital economic partner for Britain, none of the points of contention that led former governments to adopt such an aggressive stance towards Beijing have gone away.
This week, senior UK ministers were informed of widespread and likely successful efforts by Chinese state actors to access critical infrastructure networks. And China’s military exercises in the South China Sea earlier this week make for another awkward backdrop to Lammy’s visit.
Further human rights concerns persist as major sticking points.
The London legal team of Jimmy Lai, the jailed 76-year-old founder of the now-shuttered Apple Daily, a Chinese-language tabloid which supported mass pro-democracy protests, have urged Lammy to use his trip to press for Lai’s release.
Lammy is also under pressure to meet another pre-election pledge to formally recognise China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang as a “genocide”. The Guardian reports that Labour now appears to be backtracking on its plans to push for formal recognition.
What Labour is perhaps mindful of is that other western allies have found ways to balance points of contention with Beijing alongside more regular engagement. Since 2022, in the time that the UK has sent just one leader or foreign minister to China, the US have sent eight, France has sent six and Germany four.
More regular engagement is arguably sensible, on the basis that it’s always good to talk. But don’t be surprised if Lammy goes a little more easy on the “challenge” than the “cooperate” tomorrow.
Caitlin Allen
Deputy Editor