Sunak’s China strategy set for first real test as Cleverly prepares for Beijing trip
Rishi Sunak’s China strategy is set for its first real test as foreign secretary James Cleverly prepares to head to Beijing in the coming days.
Cleverly is widely expected to fly to the Chinese capital this week, marking the first visit to China by a UK foreign secretary in five years.
Sam Hogg, founder of the Beijing to Britain briefing, told City PM that Cleverly’s trip to China “will be the first time Rishi Sunak’s China strategy – engage, align, protect – meets reality”.
“Many in Westminster and beyond will be watching closely to see how forcefully he raises significant security and human rights issues the Chinese government presents,” he added.
On Saturday, President Xi Jinping gave a speech in Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital city, calling for the country’s hardline approach in the region to continue, where the government has been accused of mass human rights abuses.
According to reports, he stated the need for further “Sinocizing” of Islam and called for more positive propaganda to show an open, confident Xinjiang to rebut critical foreign press reports.
Cleverly was meant to visit earlier this year but the trip was postponed after the then Chinese foreign minister, Qin Gang, was removed from office.
Professor Steve Tsang, director of the School of Oriental and African Studies’ China Institute, told City PM the government might have been inclined to do the trip now that Wang Yi had been installed as foreign minister, or else it would risk being seen in Beijing as “an unfriendly signal”.
He said Cleverly and Sunak were “right that we must engage with China”, adding diplomacy “becomes a necessity when dealing with a rising superpower that does not share one’s value and interests and is seeking to build a new world order”.
Cleverly told the foreign affairs committee back in June, that he would continue to raise key human rights matters with China, but said that it was vital to “manage our relationship” and “engage constructively” while defending national security and UK values.
However, Tsang noted a lack of clarity around what ministers hope the visit will achieve and highlighted the UK’s “lack of a well-conceived China strategy”.
The trip has not avoided criticism, with former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, an established China ‘hawk’, condemning the visit after the LinkedIn spy revelations and the removal of the term ‘hostile state’ from official documents when referring to China.
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson did not deny that trip preparations were underway, and said it “will confirm any foreign secretary travel in the usual way.”