Rishi Sunak accused of 'kowtowing' to China by conservative hawks

Sign up for View email from Westminster for expert analytics straight to your inboxReceive our free email View from WestminsterPlease enter a valid email addressPlease enter a valid email addressI would like to receive emails about offers, events and updates day of The Independent. Read our privacy notice{{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}An error has occurred. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }}

Rishi Sunak has been accused by senior Tory officials of 'kowtowing' to China as he defies calls to reclassify Beijing as a systemic threat to Britain .

The prime minister has defended his policy of continuing to engage with China, although he believes Xi Jinping's "increasingly authoritarian" rule poses a "historic challenge" to China. world order.

But Mr Sunak has sparked a row with Chinese hawks in his party which agrees with his predecessor Liz Truss that the country should have been redesignated as a threat .

The government's updated foreign and defense policy blueprint revealed on Monday that the UK is committed to "swift and robust action" to counter any threat from China - but does not qualify the state as a threat per se.

The so-called Integrated Review Document indicates that China under the regime of the Communist Party poses a "systemic challenge" to almost all aspects of government policy and the daily lives of British citizens.

While the UK will seek to continue to engage "in a constructive" with the regime, the document warns that it will become increasingly difficult if Beijing continues its trend towards more "authoritarianism and assertiveness".

Ms Truss was to name China a "threat" to national security. Mr Sunak claimed during the Tory leadership race that China posed the 'greatest long-term threat to Britain', but he has since appeared to soften his stance.

Questioned On his previous comments on China while in the United States, Sunak told reporters, "I don't think it's smart or sophisticated foreign policy to reduce our relationship with China...to just two words."

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said he feared the updated review would be "a wasted opportunity to call China as it is, a threat to our way of life and physically to us."

The senior official added, "By being weak against China, China does not respect us. If we don't show strength, they won't respect us. The Kowtow Project is alive and well."

Senior Tory Alicia Kearns, Chair of the Business Select Committee s foreign, also criticized Sunak's approach. She said the threat "cannot be seen as primarily economic - that is, failing to understand that China seeks first and foremost to undermine our national security and sovereignty".

More Later, speaking in the Commons, Sir Iain said he was 'confused' by the pos...