Why David Cameron's past and present relations with China could be Rishi Sunak's first big political headache of 2024

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Almost immediately after being appointed as foreign secretary, David Cameron’s ties with China generated difficult headlines for Rishi Sunak’s government.

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The Conversation

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https://theconversation.com/why-david-camerons-past-and-present-relations-with-china-could-be-rishi-sunaks-first-big-political-headache-of-2024-220309

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, January 2, 2024

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Tags:

Policy, Risk, Conservatism, Government, Rishi Sunak, Conservative Party, Health, MP, Brexit, Political lists, Climate change, Democracy, Time, Sizewell

Geotags:

CHINA, EU, UK, TIBET, LONDON, BEIJING, ASIA, SRI LANKA

Summary

Key Points:

Almost immediately after being appointed as foreign secretary, David Cameron’s ties with China generated difficult headlines for Rishi Sunak’s government.
Cameron’s time in office has been described as a “golden era” for UK-China relations.
But now, in a very different political climate, de Pulford has accused the new foreign secretary of “shilling for the UK’s biggest security threat”.

The ups and downs of UK-China relations

The policies merely noted China’s continuing economic rise and argued that the UK should engage with it to resolve common problems.
China was bundled into a broad, rather vague category of “rising powers” that the UK would aim to engage with more closely.
By hosting the Tibetan leader, Cameron triggered great upset in Beijing, which placed relations with the UK in a “deep freeze” for nearly 18 months.

Warming up

This peaked in the autumn of 2015 when Xi made his state visit to the UK.
At a joint press conference, Cameron declared that China and the UK shared strong economic, diplomatic, and “people-to-people” links.
He declared that the UK and China “share an interest in a stable and ordered rule” in international affairs.

Cooling down

Cameron’s ties with China have the potential to aggravate tensions with backbench MPs who are already restive.
His party is currently divided over any number of other issues and primed to fall out over any number of others.
Meanwhile, a noticeable gap in intentions between senior members of the government risks sending confusing signals to China.
Ultimately, it will be up to Cameron’s current boss, Rishi Sunak, to try and resolve these tensions – ideally, before a major crisis breaks.

Timothy Oliver does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.