Britain's Rishi Sunak says 'golden era' with China is over

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Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Monday the "golden age" of Britain's relationship with China was over in his first major policy speech foreign affairs, describing China's growing authoritarianism as a "systemic challenge to our values ​​and interests."

But Sunak refrained from calling China a threat, disappointing Chinese hawks in his Conservative Party who until recently expected him to classify China as a "threat" to the UK. security as part of an update of the government's foreign and defense policies.

In his address to the annual Mayor's Banquet in London, Sunak said the UK would stand up to global competitors like China - "not with grand rhetoric but with robust pragmatism" and by reinforcing its ties to like-minded global allies, including the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan.

"We recognize that China poses a systemic challenge to our values ​​and our interests, a challenge that becomes more acute as it moves toward even grand uh authoritarianism,” he said.

Referring to Beijing’s handling of widespread protests across China against the country's strict "zero COVID" strategy, Sunak said that "instead of listening to the protests of its people, the Chinese government has chosen to crack down more, including assaulting a BBC journalist."< /p>

In July, during a Conservative leadership race to choose a successor to the former prime minister re Boris Johnson, Sunak said China posed the "greatest threat" to Britain and the security and prosperity of the world.

At the time, he pledged to shut down all Confucius Institutes, the organizations partially funded by the Chinese government that promote Chinese culture and language in British universities. He also said he would lead an international alliance against Chinese cyber threats and help British businesses and universities counter Chinese espionage.

Legislator Iain Duncan Smith, former Party leader conservative and outspoken critic of China, said pragmatism "means "whatever you want it to mean" and equals "appeasement". And David Lammy, the opposition Labor Party's foreign affairs spokesman, called Sunak's speech "thin as porridge". said Lamy.