Prime Minister of United Kingdom assumed affice on 25 Oct 2022

Newsnomics AJAY ANGELINA reporter | British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has claimed that China poses a

“systemic” challenge to UK values and interests as his government condemned Beijing after a BBC journalist

Edward Lawrence, was beaten while covering Shanghai protests.

In his first major foreign policy speech, Sunak said the so-called “golden era” of UK relations with China was

“over, along with the naive idea that trade would automatically lead to social and political reform”.

The United Kingdom would “need to evolve our approach to China” as a result, he said in his speech at the

Lord Mayor’s Banquet in London, adding that Beijing was “consciously competing for global influence using all the levers of state power”.

“Let’s be clear, the so-called ‘golden era’ is over, along with the naive idea that trade would automatically lead

to social and political reform,” Sunak said, a reference to former Finance Minister George Osborne’s description of Sino-British ties in 2015.

His government will priorities deepening trade and security ties with Indo-Pacific allies, he said, adding that

“economics and security are indivisible” in the region.

However, a planned meeting between Sunak and China’s President Xi Jinping at this month’s G20 summit in

Bali, Indonesia fell through, even London banned Chinese-made security cameras from sensitive government buildings last week.

“We recognize China poses a systemic challenge to our values and interests, a challenge that grows more

acute as it moves towards even greater authoritarianism, instead of listening to the peoples purchase the

Chinese government has chosen to crack down further including by assaulting a BBC channel journalist. The media and our parliamentarians must be able to highlight these issues without sanctions including calling out abuses In Xinjiang and curtailment of freedom in Hong Kong.   

“Of course, we cannot simply ignore China’s significance in world affairs — to global economic stability or

issues like climate change. The US, Canada, Australia, Japan and many others understand this too.”

On the other hand, China’s foreign ministry said on Monday that Lawrence had not identified himself as a

BBC journalist.

“Based on what we learned from relevant Shanghai authorities, he did not identify himself as a journalist and didn’t voluntarily present his press credentials,” said Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian.

He told international media to “follow Chinese laws and regulations while in China”.