China: Aims and Ambitions
- As a result, while China poses the main state security threat to British interests,[1] at the same time China's targeting of the UK for strategic advantage will—in the short term at least—be tempered by its need to keep the diplomatic relationship afloat in order to retain economic ties with the UK and encourage wider UK support for China as a responsible global actor.[2]
- However, as China's economic power develops, along with its capability to target foreign states covertly, China may be in a position to take a more aggressive stance against the UK. In addition, there is a realistic possibility that the UK's departure from the European Union (EU) will decrease the UK's attraction for China in terms of trade and investment, and that more assertive push-back from the UK and its Western allies may result in increasingly adverse retaliation from China.[3] In July 2020, following the UK Government's decision to prohibit the use of Huawei equipment in the UK telecommunications network, China's Ambassador Liu Xiaoming told the broadcaster Andrew Marr that it was "a dark day for UK-China relations".[4] There has been a definite cooling in the relationship, and it appears that the downwards trajectory is likely to continue. We were told:
China has reduced ministerial engagement and its media has threatened boycotts against UK pharmaceutical, financial and automotive companies. ***[5]
Nevertheless, it is notable that the Huawei decision has not yet led to any direct action. Whilst we found that surprising, it may be because China still considers the decision to be reversible.
- We questioned the UK Intelligence Community about the concerns raised by the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee that China may be targeting the Commonwealth, trying to undermine the alliance in order to gain the support of Commonwealth members who benefit from Chinese investment. The concerns were reported by The Times following the announcement that Barbados had taken the decision to remove the Queen as its Head of State - the article reported that Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) intelligence about Chinese activities in Barbados had been shared with the UK.[6] However, the JIC Chair ***.[7]
A. China's national imperative is to ensure that the Chinese Communist Party remains in power. Everything else is subservient to that.
B. However, it is its ambition at a global level to become a technological and economic superpower, on which other countries are reliant that poses a national security threat to the UK.
- ↑ Written evidence—JIO, 21 June 2019.
- ↑ Written evidence—HMG, April 2019.
- ↑ Written evidence—HMG, April 2019.
- ↑ 'China-UK relations grow more strained over Huawei and Hong Kong', China Brief Jamestown, 31 August 2020.
- ↑ Written evidence—JIO, 5 November 2020.
- ↑ 'China blamed for Barbados ditching Queen', The Times, 23 September 2020.
- ↑ Oral evidence—JIO, *** October 2020.
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