United Kingdom Huawei Deal Puts British Interests at Risk

How does COVID-19 affect the United Kingdom’s relations with China? It is a question made all the more difficult to answer by London’s lack of a strategy for dealing with Beijing. The U.K. has not had such a strategy since George Osborne, chancellor of the exchequer at the time, declared a “golden era” of British–Sino relations on a trip to Beijing in 2015. In hindsight, Osborne’s “era” looks more like an error.

At first glance, it seems that COVID-19 has not affected relations — or at least, did not initially. U.K. prime minister Boris Johnson spoke with Chinese general secretary Xi Jinping in mid-February to express his sympathy to all those in China who were affected. It was the first time since the beginning of the pandemic that the two had spoken. They “resolved to work together across a range of issues including strengthening the economic partnership, to benefit the people of both China and the UK,” a spokeswoman for Johnson told Reuters.

MH

About the Author

Matthew Henderson

Matthew Henderson, the director of the Asia Studies Center at the Henry Jackson Society, served with the U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office for 29 years, after studying Chinese language and civilization at the Universities of Cambridge, Peking, and Oxford.

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How does COVID-19 affect the United Kingdom’s relations with China? It is a question made all the more difficult to answer by London’s lack of a strategy for dealing with Beijing. The U.K. has not had such a strategy since George Osborne, chancellor of the exchequer at the time, declared a “golden era” of British–Sino relations on a trip to Beijing in 2015. In hindsight, Osborne’s “era” looks more like an error.

At first glance, it seems that COVID-19 has not affected relations — or at least, did not initially. U.K. prime minister Boris Johnson spoke with Chinese general secretary Xi Jinping in mid-February to express his sympathy to all those in China who were affected. It was the first time since the beginning of the pandemic that the two had spoken. They “resolved to work together across a range of issues including strengthening the economic partnership, to benefit the people of both China and the UK,” a spokeswoman for Johnson told Reuters.

MH

About the Author

Matthew Henderson

Matthew Henderson, the director of the Asia Studies Center at the Henry Jackson Society, served with the U.K. Foreign and Commonwealth Office for 29 years, after studying Chinese language and civilization at the Universities of Cambridge, Peking, and Oxford.