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Opinion | Is Liz Truss’ Thatcher reawakening what UK-China relations need?
- An admirer of Thatcher and hawkish on China, Britain’s new prime minister may nevertheless wish to avoid following her idol’s Cold War playbook when dealing with Beijing
- With domestic and political pressure weighing on the UK’s relationship with China, Truss will have to strike a fine balance
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“When we hear statistics that China adds an economy the size of Australia every year, or that real incomes have continued to increase … these are hardly more reliable than any other official statements … moreover, a country that produces what no one wants to buy is hardly in the best of economic health.”
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Could you imagine new British Prime Minister Liz Truss saying something like this, evoking Margaret Thatcher when taking over the fraught reins of UK-China relations?
Thatcher was quoted making similar remarks when she was prime minister, evaluating the Soviet Union’s lack of progress. Fast-forward to the 2020s and much has been made of how Truss hints at a Thatcher reawakening.
The Soviet Union was viewed as the biggest challenger to the Western way of life. Now, successive administrations in Washington have coalesced around the China challenge as the modern-day equivalent.
Political winds may blow into the UK from Europe, but more often than not it is US politics and trends that are given more recognition in British thinking. So, fear of China’s rise has reached consensus-levels in Westminster.
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