Cleverly’s China strategy: Balancing influence and engagement
Cleverly believes that Britain has ‘influence’ with China and he has no intention of throwing that away
James Cleverly gave an exclusive and revealing interview reported in The Guardian in which he claimed there was no binary choice to be made with regard to China. Cleverly believes that Britain has “influence” with China and he has no intention of throwing that away; he intends to engage regularly on matters of mutual concern and in the national interest, and what is in the interest of the world in general, dialling up and down the engagement as appropriate.
His less than hawkish approach is in stark contrast to the previous administrations of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, and some Tory Ministers such as Tom Tugendhat and MPS who are members of IPAC. Also in contrast to Lindy Cameron’s, Head of the UK’S National Cyber Security Centre, speech in Northern Ireland where she described China as a dramatic technology superpower that risks becoming the predominant power in cyberspace. Cameron’s warning followed on from the Chief of CGHQ Sir Jeremy Fleming’s warning that China had taken the lead in developing technologies such as defence, space, robotics, artificial intelligence,
and quantum. Fleming cautioned that these technologies could be used in ways that do not reflect “our values.”
Cleverly is set to deliver a defining China strategy and foreign policy speech this week, following on from the 2023 Integrated Review Refresh. Many commentators felt that the IRR has watered down the UK’S 2021 Indo-pacific Tilt and has introduced a more Atlanticist policy with ASEAN, Gulf, and Africa tilts above
engagement with India. This might explain why the FCDO and Cleverly have this week been focusing on what they call the Pacific Region, not the Indo-pacific.
The PM has been vague on his take on China, he has both described China as a challenge that will require push back and he has said that the UK cannot ignore China’s significance in world affairs; but what words mean in terms of security and protectionist policy is as yet unclear.
During the election season in 2022, the Global Times clearly supported Sunak over the other leadership candidates, writing “Most of the candidates hold a tough stance on China, only one of them has a clear and pragmatic view on developing Uk-china ties. Chinese experts said the new British prime minister won’t make big changes to the current foreign policy, but there is a chance for the UK to fix ties with China and maximise its advantages to prevent an
economic downturn.”
During his journey to No10, Sunak has not done anything memorable to strengthen Uk-india relations; Cleverly has been a flexible and agile politician surviving from Theresa May, through Johnson and Truss to being retained as Foreign Secretary for Sunak, suggesting he is good at implementing whatever is required of him at the time and amplifying the policy vision of the incumbent prime minister.