The United Kingdom has a relationship with China that is 'characterised by incoherence' and is hampered by a lack of specialist knowledge, according to a report that warns of the risks inherent in misjudging the bilateral relationship. The report was conducted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on China, an international association of legislators skeptical of China.
The APPG notes that previous engagement with Beijing has often exposed the United Kingdom to risks of interference without delivering promised opportunities. In the report, published on Wednesday, a highlighted sentence reads: 'Successful engagement by the United Kingdom with China must always be framed by an understanding that the People’s Republic of China is inherently an authoritarian state hostile to us that does not share our values.' The report states that the inherent power imbalance in the relationship with the world’s second-largest economy has been 'further exacerbated by confused policy and weak engagement'.
As an example, the report cites a visit by a Chinese delegation which noted that no one at a high level in the government dealing with Beijing spoke Mandarin or had significant experience living in China. The APPG, which counts members from all major British parties, notes that British expertise exists but is often in silos and 'does not translate into capability'.
The former security minister Tom Tugendhat said the report was 'a clear-eyed and realistic assessment of a defining foreign policy challenge of this century, filling the gap left by years of policy neglect'. The report acknowledges that 'withdrawal was not an option', but advocates for clearly defined red lines on issues such as critical infrastructure, frontier technology, and human rights.
The report offers several recommendations, including better institutional coordination, a stronger use of security tools, and diversification of supply chains. It identifies new technologies such as artificial intelligence as presenting new challenges in terms of disinformation and surveillance capabilities. The climate crisis is identified as a low-risk area for cooperation and alignment, with the note: 'Climate goals as set will not be met without cooperation with China and accepting mid-term dependencies. This means accepting supply chains contaminated by forced labour and unfair trade practices.'
The Guardian has contacted the UK government and the Chinese embassy in London for comment. Kerry Brown, a former diplomat and director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College London, said that 'it is welcome' that there is an understanding that better language skills are needed to engage with China. Brown said that 'the critical issue now is lived experience' in China.
'Some members of the APPG ... are very keen to promote the idea that this is a security issue, that going to China exposes one to danger in some way', Brown said. 'You cannot teach truly important things in a classroom; you can only learn them through daily life ... and this is something that is now very difficult to do, and it seems not to be supported.'
