Opinion | The Conservative leadership race is an ugly race to the bottom on China

By Tom Fowdy

Yesterday, British Conservative leadership candidate Rishi Sunak, formerly Chancellor of the Exchequer under Boris Johnson's government, vowed to get tough in China. Accusing Beijing of "being the biggest long-term threat to the UK", he claimed it was "infiltrating our universities" and "stealing our technology". He then vowed to close all 30 Confucius institutes in the country, set up to promote Chinese culture and language learning. This aggressive rhetoric despite Rishi having as recently as January vowed to deepen business ties between China and the UK.

The reason behind Sunak's abrupt about-turn is obvious. He is the underdog to ultra-hawk Liz Truss, who is the overwhelming favorite amongst the Conservative party membership, who will be voting for their new leader soon enough. Whilst it is true that Sunak's positions on China have been reasonable and moderate, this has quickly turned into an attack line against him which was the subject of an article in the Daily Mail, describing comments by the Global Times as "the endorsement nobody wanted". It also comes amidst a continual attempt to force China as an issue onto the leadership election, with defeated candidate Penny Mordaunt having also pledged to get tough.

As a result, China has become an ugly race to the bottom in this contest, a scenario which in the wake of Britain's wider economic struggles, is disastrous. Despite the talk of needing more "free trade" continually thrown around by candidates, not least by Truss herself, as part of the "Global Britain" mantra, those seeking to succeed Boris Johnson show absolutely nothing but unhinged hostility and irrationality concerning the latest trading and commercial nation in the world. It is endemic of the delusions, irrationality and self-destructive tendencies which now increasingly dominate Britain's foreign policy and will only serve to more greatly undermine the foundations of its prosperity.

The victory of "leave" in the European Union referendum of 2016 marked a turning point in British foreign policy as it initiated a shift in the balance of power in the Conservative Party, with the vote playing out into a factional conflict. The liberal pragmatic wing of the party, headed by David Cameron, was defeated by the hard Eurosceptic wing in which Boris Johnson had opportunistically weaponized to boost his platform and eventually in undermining the successor government of Theresa May, become the Prime Minister itself. In doing so, the Brexit ideology of post-imperial nostalgia, marketed as "global Britain" was unleashed, a national chauvinism which despised association with Europe, and soon enough found a new home in Sinophobia.

Boris Johnson of course pledged himself as a "Sinophile" and was favorable to China, but increasingly lost power amongst the forces he had unleashed, his tendency for populism and scapegoating, as well of course growing pressure from the United States for the UK to change course on its foreign policy. 2020 would see Britain U-turn on its "golden era of relations with China" amidst the covid-19 pandemic, anger over Hong Kong, and relentless American propaganda purposefully weaponizing the issue of Xinjiang. This shift would see the likes of Liz Truss merge Brexit nationalistic sentiment with a new ultra-neo conservative ideology which thrived upon the notions of systemic and geopolitical struggle, framing the "righteous and heroic nation of Britain" up against the so-called "tyrannical and uncivilized notion of China".

However, this pathway for Britain is disastrous on multiple fronts, because it is based on little more than national chauvinism and nostalgia, than rational national interest, and is alienating some of the largest markets in the world. Truss, who is going to be the likely victor, pledges to scrap all EU laws within several years, given the necessity of regulatory overlap between the EU and the UK to facilitate services and trade, this is both impossible and completely absurd. Yet simultaneously, she is continually pushing for confrontation with China. Where does this leave the UK? How is it that she can pledge to make Britain "fat with freeports" yet not feature China as part of that strategy? The hyperbole is ridiculous.

In conclusion, Britain is being driven off a cliff. Kowtowing to the US whilst pursuing collective national delusion of great power memories is a toxic formula for disaster. The UK should be realistic, pragmatic and sensible about where its interests lie, yet here we see even an ethnic minority leadership candidate weaponizing the mantra of yellow peril in the desperate bid to appease the "prevailing wisdom" of the day. It's grim, but not least of all considering he doesn't really stand a chance of winning, and thus we must prepare pre-emptively for the upcoming Liz Truss horror show, the only person in British politics whose career has managed to "fail upwards".

The author is a well-seasoned writer and analyst with a large portfolio related to China topics, especially in the field of politics, international relations and more. He graduated with an Msc. in Chinese Studies from Oxford University in 2018.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.

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