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BEIJING. – As UK’s Conservative Party leadership race has narrowed the candidates for prime minister down to former chancellor of the exchequer (finance minister) Rishi Sunak and incumbent Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Chinese observers yesterday said a new British leader could open a window for adjustment to bilateral relations, but if the UK keeps following the US’ suit, its own people are going to suffer more.
Sunak maintained his lead on Wednesday, winning 137 votes, followed by Truss’ 113 votes. Minister of Trade Policy Penny Mordaunt, who previously led Truss, lost out with 105 votes, CNN reported.
About 160 000 rank-and-file party members will have their say on the party leadership, with the winner of the race for the new prime minister announced in September.
Sunak, who is of Indian descent and in his early 40s, has served as finance minister and chief secretary to the treasury. He resigned on July 5, citing the economic policy differences between himself and former prime minister Boris Johnson.
His resignation led to a mass exodus of ministers from the Johnson administration.
Sunak has an economic and finance background, and his policies could be more pragmatic. Such pragmatic principles could be applied to his foreign policy, including Briton’s relations with China, Zhao Junjie, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of European Studies, said yesterday.
In July 2021, Sunak used his annual Mansion House speech to insist that Britain beef up its trading relationship with China. He urged a “mature and balanced relationship” with Beijing and had complained that the debate on China “lacks nuance.”
There are not many reports about Sunak’s remarks on China’s Hong Kong- and Xinjiang-related affairs, in contrast to the other candidate Truss, who has repeatedly attacked China over these topics and has been described as a China hawk by both media and observers.
Truss said in a recent interview with Spectator that “we’ve refocused on foreign policy, on the network of liberty, and are taking a much tougher stand on both Russia and China.”
Cui Hongjian, director of the Department of European Studies at the China Institute of International Studies,said that whoever wins, the new prime minister’s priorities should be repairing the party’s scandal-marred image and solving domestic problems, including raging inflation.
On the UK’s relationship with China, the new government is anticipated to seek interests from economic ties while being hard-line on politics and security, Cui said. Sunak’s business background means he might be more flexible in dealing with China. ‑ Global Times
Online Reporter