More than 100 British MPs from across party lines sent a joint letter to Prime Minister Johnson last week calling for stronger sanctions against China over Hong Kong and Xinjiang. The letter calls for sanctions against officials and entities that have suppressed the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, as well as expanded sanctions against Chinese officials in Xinjiang, naming Xinjiang Party Secretary Chen Quanguo.
It is a rare event that more than 100 members of the British Parliament have signed a joint letter to sanction China. The joint letter emphasizes that “it is clear that the so-called golden age of Sino-British relations has passed.” China and Britain have already launched mutual sanctions on the Xinjiang issue, but the British government has always been reluctant to take sanctioning action on the Hong Kong issue. And it seems from the latest developments that not only is the golden age of Sino-British relations over, but a new Sino-British Cold War is already around the corner and calling.
The British government introduced a month ago the post-Brexit era foreign and defense policy review report, published a new post-Brexit global British foreign defense strategy, saber-rattling China and advocating a tilt toward the Indo-Pacific region. Prime Minister Johnson said the comprehensive report is “the most significant assessment of British foreign, defense, security and development policy since the end of the Cold War.”
In the report, the British government refers to China as a “systemic challenge” and a “competitor. At the same time, Britain’s newest aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth, arrived in the Indo-Pacific region in May this year to form a battle group with the United States, Canada, Australia and other allies. This is the first time since World War II that the British Royal Navy has formed a battle group. The British government has so far not confirmed whether HMS Queen Elizabeth has entered the international waters of the South China Sea for cruising, but judging from the fact that British ships have joined allied nations in freely patrolling international waters in the region, HMS Queen Elizabeth and her battle group should be on standby to prepare to enter the South China Sea.
In response to these counterweight deployments against Beijing, Prime Minister Johnson said, “Britain does not want a new cold war with China. Johnson may be right in saying that Britain does not want a new cold war with China, but the reality is: Britain has to prepare for a new cold war between China and Britain.
This situation is similar to the Cold War between the West and the former Soviet Union more than 70 years ago. While there were proposals for a cold war with the Soviet Union, most people hoped for something better than a cold war. As a result, the Cold War took place anyway. The occurrence of the Cold War reflected an unfortunate fact – that provocative totalitarian forces threatened Western democratic values and life.
Even more unfortunate is that this fact has resurfaced in China since Xi Jinping came to power. Since the promotion of the Belt and Road in 2013, through its economic power, China has openly built a Chinese system and Chinese values around the world, yet the West has almost completely failed to notice China’s intentions. The previous UK Integrated Diplomatic and Defense Assessment report came out in November 2015, just after Xi Jinping’s state visit to the UK in September 2015. At the time, the report stated that “the UK and China should build a deeper partnership and work more closely together with a view to facing global challenges.” and agreed to launch a high-level Sino-British security dialogue.
In 2015, the British Cameron government’s report set the tone for the Sino-British Golden Age. During this period, even though there were disagreements between China and Britain over democracy in Hong Kong and human rights for the Uighurs in Xinjiang, and pressure from the U.S. over Huawei’s participation in the construction of the U.K.’s 5G network, the U.K. never allowed these issues to rise to the level of a confrontation with China. It was not until the outbreak of the New Crown epidemic, China’s push for a Hong Kong version of the national security law in Hong Kong, the establishment of so-called re-education camps in Xinjiang to detain Uighurs, and the opportunity to divide the international community through vaccine diplomacy, reaching not only African Third World countries, but also the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries, that the British government and the public really woke up to the fact that, in the face of Xi Jinping’s dream of China in the 21st century, it is no longer “one country, two systems” that needs attention. It is not “one country, two systems”, but “one ball, two systems”. The goal of the Chinese Communist Party in the 21st century is to divide the world into “one planet and two systems”!
However, unlike the Cold War when the former Soviet Union was a military power but not an economic power, today China’s state subsidies, the successful economic model controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, and the basic confrontation with Western free market capitalism, without the use of military force, have threatened the international order and universal values established after World War II. Under the CCP system, undemocratic and immoral regimes will flourish, even with economic growth. What’s more, China’s military power has begun to match its economic power.
A new Cold War with China would require Britain to return to close cooperation with its international allies, especially with its old ally, the United States. The latest comprehensive diplomatic and defense assessment by the British government following the administration of President Biden shows that the Johnson administration has made a choice between China and the United States. This is the first time in a long time that the British government has reorganized its non-strategic bureaucratic culture toward China, and the future developments and implications are worth watching closely.
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