New British Foreign Secretary David Lammy seeks to push economic ties on first China visit
Lammy is expected to focus on trade, but issues such as human rights and security will continue to cast a shadow over the relationship
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy is visiting China this week on a trip that is expected to focus on economic ties amid a push by the new Labour government to reset relations.
However, analysts say it is not clear how far Lammy will be able to balance this focus on economic relations with concerns over human rights and security, which have been an ongoing source of tension as relations between the two countries have deteriorated sharply.
Over the past decade or so, the number of high-level meetings has dwindled and the two countries have clashed over issues such as Hong Kong, the South China Sea and Xinjiang. Meanwhile Chinese investment in Europe in general is falling, with more money going to countries such as Hungary that take a favourable stance towards Beijing.
In 2021, the British parliament passed a motion that declared China was committing genocide against the Uygur people, and later that year the British government banned Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies from the country’s 5G infrastructure development over security fears.
Wang Yiwei, a professor of international relations at Renmin University, said Britain’s domestic financial situation was fuelling efforts to re-engage.
“The main priority for Lammy will be to revive the China-UK economic and financial dialogue and to attract increased Chinese investment into his country,” Wang said, adding that cooperation on the green economy would be another priority.
