Britain needs a new policy response to a more outwardly assertive Chinese government, according to a report released Tuesday (Dec. 1) by the China Research Group, a group of conservative British lawmakers. The report’s recommendations include establishing a coalition of democratic states, limiting Chinese involvement in Britain’s critical infrastructure and sanctioning Chinese officials for human rights abuses. Former Hong Kong lawmaker Law Kwun Chung also told the conference that democracies need to work together to deal with the Chinese Communist Party.
Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the China Study Group and a Conservative member of the British Parliament, urged other democracies to reconsider their positions on China at the report’s online launch on Tuesday.
Like-minded democracies need to rethink their approach to China,” he said. We should try to hold China to its international obligations, and that includes preparing an implementable set of measures to deal with the Communist Party’s continued violations of human rights and international law.”
Defending Democracy in a New World, released Tuesday, lists nine policy proposals, including the creation of a D10 coalition of 10 major democracies to check and challenge China’s influence; the imposition of sanctions against Communist Party officials and entities under their control for human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong; and the creation of a British-led coalition for Hong Kong. Provide support and legal assistance to national overseas passport holders; enact the British Hong Kong Home Rule Bill to prevent the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy under the National Security Act; take steps to ensure that the supply chain is free of slave labor; prohibit the export of British goods and services to China that could be used for mass surveillance and human rights abuses; implement stricter vetting of purchases of Chinese equipment and applications to reduce Chinese penetration of British institutions; and enact the Clear guidelines governing collaboration between British universities and foreign governments; and the creation of mandatory reporting requirements that require Chinese companies in joint ventures with British companies to disclose their ties to the Chinese government and military.
Some of these policies are already being discussed publicly. The U.K. government said on Monday that U.K. communications companies will be banned from installing new Huawei 5G equipment after September 2021, and the U.K. recently enacted new laws that will penalize telecom operators if they use Huawei equipment. The U.K. government also introduced a facilitation arrangement for Hong Kong residents earlier this year, which stipulates that from the end of January next year, Hong Kong residents with British national passports overseas and their close relatives can apply for special visas to work or study in the U.K., with no quota restrictions.
Former student leader of the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong and former legislator Law Koon Chung said at the launch of the report that building a democratic coalition was crucial in dealing with the Communist Party’s infiltration and authoritarian expansion.
He said, “The Chinese government is good at using the divide-and-rule strategy, and they will look for weaknesses in any coalition to try to create conflict. So for democracies, if we’re going to deal with Communist infiltration and authoritarianism, we need to strengthen our cooperation.”
Alexander Downer, a former Australian foreign minister who is now chairman of the Policy Exchange, a British think tank, wrote the foreword to the report. At the report’s launch on Tuesday, he said that China is now increasingly throwing its weight around in matters such as the South China Sea and Hong Kong, and is finding it difficult to engage with China in the way it used to. He argued that Western countries should work more closely together, uphold democratic values and stand up to criticize Beijing for human rights violations.
The more the West continues to raise these issues and express its concerns, the more difficult it will be for China to maintain its reputation, and over time they will have to reconsider their policy positions because what China does not want is to be isolated,” he said.
Downer, Australia’s longest-serving foreign minister, served as an Australian director of Huawei from 2011 to 2014, and defended Huawei when it was banned by Australia from participating in broadband construction.
He said, “I am sorry to see what has happened in the last two or three years: a deterioration in the quality of China’s policy, Beijing’s aggressive posture, and inappropriate wolf diplomacy by the Foreign Ministry spokesman.”
In his foreword to the report, Downer argues that Britain has for many years viewed China as a lucrative market and an important source of foreign investment, but that such a policy based on monetary gain is superficial and unsustainable.
He argues that Britain’s China policy should achieve three goals. The first is that the UK should support the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), consisting of the US, Australia, India, and Japan, to maintain stability in the Indo-Pacific region, provide an “appropriate balance of power,” and discourage China’s attempts to change the status quo by force.
However, he believes that the UK should not adopt a strategy of containment towards China, but rather engagement and cooperation. He argued that there is a need to ensure that normal economic, trade and investment flows between the two countries remain smooth, but said that, at the government level, the UK should explicitly urge China to strictly adhere to the rules-based international system and international standards in areas such as intellectual property protection and fair trade, otherwise there will be an economic cost.
The third objective, according to Downer, is that Britain must promote and protect the post-war order and values in its engagement with China, and must make clear to China that any human rights violations are unacceptable.
He argues that the China Study Group’s report offers a range of options for the British government to develop a coherent and sustainable strategy towards China.
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