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Sunak’s comments come shortly after groups of people across China staged public demonstrations to protest the country’s strict zero-covid policy.
Daniel Leal | AFP | Getty Images
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the so-called “golden age” of relations with China was over, warning that Beijing’s move towards greater authoritarianism posed a systemic challenge to Britain’s values and interests.
“Let’s be clear, the so-called ‘golden age’ is over,” Sunak said in his first major foreign policy speech on Monday.
His reference to a “golden age” for UK-China relations echoes comments made in 2015 by former UK finance minister George Osborne, who claimed Britain could be China’s “best partner in the West”.
Sunak said it was “naive” to believe that closer economic ties could lead to social and political reforms over the past decade and accused Beijing of “blatantly competing for global influence using all levers of state power”.
However, he warned that Britain could not rely on “simplistic Cold War rhetoric”.
The Chinese embassy in London was not immediately available to respond to a request for comment.
Since Sunk took over as party leader and prime minister last month, he has faced pressure from conservative backbenchers to toughen his stance on China.
“We recognize that China poses a systemic challenge to our values and interests – a challenge that will intensify as it moves towards greater authoritarianism,” Sunak said in his speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet in London.
His comments came shortly after public demonstrations took place across China to protest the country’s strict zero-covid policy. A BBC journalist was beaten and briefly detained by police while covering anti-government protests in Shanghai on Sunday.
“Instead of listening to their people’s protests, the Chinese government has chosen to take more drastic measures, including attacking a BBC journalist,” Sunak said.
“The media and our parliamentarians should be able to highlight these issues without sanction, including abuses in Xinjiang and the curtailment of freedoms in Hong Kong.”
Sunak said the pace of geopolitical change is intensifying and “short-termism or wishful thinking is not enough” to deal with the challenges posed by Russia and China.
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