China: Don’t let Cold War warriors hurt us

CHINA’S AMBASSADOR to the UK has warned against allowing “Cold War warriors” to damage relations between the two countries.

Rows over Hong Kong, the ban on tech giant Huawei playing a role in the 5G network and British criticism of human rights abuses in Xinjiang have soured the relationship in recent weeks.

Beijing’s ambassador, Liu Xiaoming, inset, acknowledged the rows had “seriously poisoned” Sino-British relations.

He rejected claims of abuse against Uighur Muslims, condemned the decision on Huawei and warned the UK not to interfere in Chinese internal affairs over Hong Kong.

Mr Liu said: “China respects UK sovereignty and has never interfered in the UK’s internal affairs. It is important the UK will do the same – namely, respect China’s sovereignty and stop interfering in Hong Kong’s affairs, which are China’s internal affairs, so as to avoid further damage to the China-UK relationship.” Mr Liu hoped the two countries had “enough wisdom and capabilities” to manage differences “rather than allowing anti-China forces and Cold War warriors to kidnap the China-UK relationship”.

In a further sign of the deteriorating relationship with China, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab condemned a decision to block 12 pro-democracy candidates from standing in Hong Kong’s legislative council elections in September. “It is clear they have been disqualified because of their political views,” he said.