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China-UK relations
OpinionComment
Adriel Kasonta
Adriel Kasonta

Opinion | Why Britain must stop seeing China as a threat to secure its future prosperity

  • Johnson and his government are struggling to find a balance between Britain’s traditional alliance with the US and China’s economic opportunities
  • The UK must have a clear, coherent China strategy as it cannot afford to antagonise the ‘growth engine of the world’

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President Xi Jinping shares a toast with Britain’s Queen Elizabeth during a state banquet at Buckingham Palace in London on October 20, 2015. Photo: AP
Adriel Kasonta
The rise of China – or perhaps its awakening from a long sleep – has shaken the world, evoking the line popularly attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte.
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The current dilemma facing world leaders is unavoidable. It appears to come with a bag of mixed blessings, especially during an era of intensified competition between China and the United States.

This certainly applies to the United Kingdom. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his government are struggling to find a balance between Britain’s historical allegiance to Washington and the opportunities presented by a closer relationship with Beijing.

The Global Investment Summit in London on October 19, which was designed to increase investment to the UK after its departure from the European Union, attests to this fact.
As an active observer of and participant in the British policymaking process, who remembers former prime minister David Cameron’s “golden era” approach to China, I understand well that China plays a crucial role in the Britain’s economic prosperity.
President Xi Jinping (left) drinks beer with then-British prime minister David Cameron at a pub in Princess Risborough, near Chequers, England, on October 22, 2015, during Xi’s official state visit. Photo: AP
President Xi Jinping (left) drinks beer with then-British prime minister David Cameron at a pub in Princess Risborough, near Chequers, England, on October 22, 2015, during Xi’s official state visit. Photo: AP

Beijing invested £3.2 billion (US$4.4 billion) in the UK in 2019, accounting for 0.2 per cent of Britain’s total inward foreign direct investment. While this is to be welcomed, every country has the right to protect its national security and needs to be able to scrutinise inward investments that may pose a threat.

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