LONDON (Realist English). Candidates for prime ministers of the United Kingdom compete in anti-Chinese rhetoric “to hide internal disorder,” according to an editorial commentary of the Global Times.
“Chinese analysts said the China policy in countries like the US and the UK won’t be changed dramatically with the changes of leaders, and the act of hyping the “China threat” remains one of the best options for those incompetent politicians to cover up their failures in pushing effective reform to solve domestic problems, even though they know China has nothing to do with their internal messes, and especially their economic problems, that their voters care about most.”
Even if the politicians clearly understand that fixing ties with China could help them relieve economic pressure to some extent or that making damage to China-UK ties will eventually further harm the UK economy, the toxic political atmosphere makes those UK politicians, who do not have the courage or wisdom to make effective changes, opt for the easy choice rather than the right choice, experts said”, the article says.
Previously, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, who claims to be the leader of the Conservative Party, said that China poses ” the largest threat to Britain and the world’s security and prosperity this century in the XXI century,” proposing a number of measures to reduce Beijing’s influence in the UK. Sunak also promised to ban all 30 branches of the Confucius Institute in the UK.
According to him, the educational and cultural organization is used by the Chinese government to promote soft power in British universities. Sunak advocates “tougher use of new national security laws to protect British tech startups from Chinese investment.” In a fit of sinophobia, the politician even called for the creation of a new “NATO-style” international alliance to tackle Chinese cyber threats”.
The Guardian reminds that neither Sunak nor Liz Truss have yet openly discussed the fate of Taiwan and the question of whether the British government should declare “genocide in Xinjiang.”
In 2021, China overtook Germany to become the UK’s largest import market, as trade in goods with European Union member states plunged due to Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic.
