China Says U.K. Criticism Risks Poisoning Relationship

(Bloomberg) -- China’s Ambassador to the U.K., Liu Xiaoming, said British politicians who have called for a reset of ties between the two nations risk poisoning the relationship.

Anti-China rhetoric is in danger of undermining international solidarity in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, he said in a webinar on Tuesday.

The ambassador’s comment is a thinly veiled warning to senior Conservatives, including Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who said last month it could not be “business as usual” with China after Covid-19. Critics have focused on China’s lack of transparency about reporting early cases of the disease.

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“Regrettably a few politicians in the U.K. have been addicted to the cold war mentality to compare China to the former Soviet Union and urge a review of the China-U.K. relationship, and even call for a new cold war,” Liu said. “If they go unchecked they will poison the China-U.K. joint effort, and even international solidarity just as it’s needed most.”

Those MPs “do not represent” the views of government, businesses and the general public, Liu said. “They do not even represent the Parliament.” He added: “I believe the U.K. government and Prime Minister Johnson is still committed to a stronger relationship with China. I feel confident that we can work with the U.K. government.”

‘Utterly Predictable’

Iain Duncan Smith, a former leader of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party, called Liu’s comments “utterly predictable” and “out of touch with what is being discussed.” Most critics are making “a reasonable request that China obey the rules of the free market,” he said.

“The majority of people in Parliament and people in the U.K. are deeply, deeply concerned about the trade terms with China, how it handled the outbreak and its international engagements such as in the South China Sea,” Duncan Smith said in an interview.

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Liu repeated China’s stance that any calls for an inquiry into the outbreak are “politically motivated” and inspired by U.S. President Donald Trump. Some people in the British media “dance to the tune of American politicians and American media,” he said.

The envoy said the global public health crisis highlighted how “helping each other is the only way to a final victory” over Covid-19.

“The last thing I would want to see is the U.K. scaring away foreign investors” over national security concerns, Liu said. “You can’t single out China as a target.”

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