Prime Minister Rishi Sunak Says the ‘Golden Age’ of British-Chinese Relations is Over

The United Kingdom, November 29, 2022: Sending a strong message to Beijing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said that the golden era of China-UK ties has come to an end and that the UK now sees China as a systemic challenge that needs to evolve our approach to China.

Rishi Sunak said that let’s be clear, the so-called golden era is over, along with a naive idea that trade would automatically lead to social and political reform. That nor should we rely on simplistic Cold War rhetoric.

He even added that they acknowledge China poses a systemic challenge to their values and interests. Instead of listening to their people’s protests, the Chinese government has chosen to crack down further.

Now Senate made his first foreign policy comment while speaking at Lord Mayor’s banquet. Note that the phrase Golden Era is associated with London’s closer ties with Beijing and former Prime Minister David Cameron.

But in the last eight years after Cameron’s term ended relations between the two countries have deteriorated while campaigning for number 10. Both Rishi Sunak and former Prime Minister Liz Truss promised a tough stance on China.

Trump reportedly was planning to de-categorize China as a threat to the UK in its foreign policy review, and Sunak although toned down echoed the same sentiment.

He said that the UK now needed to replace wishful thinking with robust pragmatism towards competitors. Since taking off as the British leader has been under pressure from Tory backbenchers to adopt a more hawkish approach towards China, and the use of the worst robust pragmatism did not sit well with many senior party members.

Former Tory leader in Duncan Smith even said that he wonders if robust pragmatism now sounds more like appeasement.