On November 28, in his first major diplomatic speech since taking office, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declared that the "golden era" (golden era) between China and the UK was over, indicating that the UK should not rely on simple "Cold War rhetoric" ", but there will be no more "naive ideas" of the past that trade would bring about social and political reform.
Judging from the current state of Sino-British relations today, the end of the "Golden Age" is probably not a declaration worth making a fuss about.
It was Prime Minister David Cameron (David Cameron) who first used this term to describe Sino-British relations in 2015. The start of this "golden era" was marked by Xi Jinping's state visit to the UK in the same year.
At that time, Xi Jinping was entertained by Queen Elizabeth II (Elizabeth II) at Buckingham Palace, and he went to the bar to drink with Cameron and other silhouettes, which also attracted attention from all walks of life.
However, in 2016, Cameron failed to gamble on the "Brexit referendum" to persuade Eurosceptics in the Conservative Party.
In addition to making Cameron lose his position, and even "notorious" in British history (for the two factions of Brexit), it also reduces the "golden content" of the "golden age" of Sino-US relations-after all, it is possible The United Kingdom, which has lost access to the EU single market, is no longer as important to China as it used to be.
This is the faded material backdrop of the "Golden Age".
During his visit to the UK in 2015, Xi Jinping and Cameron went to the bar to toast together.
(Getty)
Cameron's successor, Theresa May, who also belongs to the Remain camp, in order to unite the Eurosceptics in the party after the Brexit referendum, put on a strong Brexit posture on the surface, claiming that the post-Brexit era will Seeking the position of "Global Britain" (Global Britain), confronting the United Kingdom that is "trapped in the EU system".
After the unsatisfactory results of the early general election in 2017, and the shattering of the "Iron Lady 2.0" dream, Theresa May, who was in the predicament of Brexit negotiations, regarded the "Golden Age" of Sino-British relations as an important part of her "Global Britain".
Even though the Western world headed by the United States gradually became anti-China, Theresa May visited China for three days in early 2018 and won a cooperation agreement worth 9 billion pounds.
From this perspective, Theresa May can be regarded as having inherited Cameron's line toward China.
However, the shadow of China's national security threat has already emerged in the UK. Theresa May herself under pressure stopped the construction of a British nuclear power plant in which China invested in when she took office.
The Brexit dilemma was incomprehensible and eventually forced Theresa May to step down in 2019.
What his successor Boris Johnson has to face is a new world in which the United States has already launched a trade war against China and a technology war against Huawei.
The anti-revision storm in Hong Kong and its subsequent development have also become another stumbling block in Sino-British relations in an atmosphere of political correctness.
In early 2018, Theresa May visited Beijing.
(Getty)
Although Johnson has been hailed as the "British Trump", his attitude towards China is often pragmatic.
As early as 2013, as the mayor of London, he went to China to attract investment for six days. Some British politicians believed that he was more aggressive than Cameron's then chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne.
In fact, as late as early 2021, Johnson was still saying in front of representatives of the Chinese business community that he was a "fanatic pro-China faction."
However, it is becoming more and more difficult for the UK not to choose sides, sandwiched between China and the United States.
One of Johnson's famous sayings is "My policy on cakes is to support having cakes and eating cakes" - people call this "cakeism", which in Chinese means "you can get both fish and bear's paws" "the meaning of.
But "cake doctrine" is becoming less and less realistic.
Under the pressure of domestic anti-China factions and the United States, Johnson, who was still defending Britain's use of Huawei's 5G communication equipment in early 2020, was forced to make a 180-degree turn by the middle of the same year and issued a ban on Huawei.
By the end of 2021, as the newly-elected Biden administration in the United States not only did not reverse, but continued to strengthen Trump's line toward China, the Johnson administration, under pressure from the cabinet led by his successor, then Foreign Minister Liz Truss, He also decided to follow the United States in a "diplomatic boycott" of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
The failure of Johnson's "cake doctrine" has heralded the end of Sino-US relations.
Johnson during a visit to Shanghai in 2013.
(Getty)
By July of this year, Johnson finally couldn't stand the "Partygate" scandal and resigned.
The last two candidates for Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom are Zhuo Huisi and Xin Weicheng.
Xin Weicheng, like Johnson, is also a pragmatic person towards China at heart, and supports the restart of the "China-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue" (suspended since 2019), but under the pressure of Zhuo Huisi questioning "pro-China", Xin Weicheng had to describe China as As "the biggest long-term threat to the UK", it even promised to close the Confucius Institute in the UK.
After Zhuo Huisi stepped down as Prime Minister for a short period of time, Xin Weicheng was ordered to protect the unity of the party, and of course he continued his tough commitment to China during the campaign.
Earlier this month, Xin Weicheng decided to withdraw the acquisition of Newport Wafer Fab, the largest chip factory in the United Kingdom, by a Chinese technology company on the grounds of national security. buy back.
As word of the end of the "golden age" fell, Xin Weicheng also decided to continue to spend hundreds of millions of pounds to drive China General Nuclear Power Group away from the UK nuclear power plant construction plan.
The flip side of pragmatism is bowing to traditional allies and domestic pressure.
At present, the British Labor Party is far ahead of the Conservative Party in polls and is expected to win the general election in 2024.
But the leader of the Labor Party, Keir Starmer, is an extremely cautious politician. As a leader of the Labor Party, he dare not support the British labor movement, nor do he dare to support a more relaxed policy for introducing overseas immigration.
It can be seen from this that, under the premise that the general trend towards China at home and abroad remains unchanged, even if the British regime changes, it is difficult to see opportunities for improving Sino-British relations.
Today, no one doubts that the "Golden Age" of Sino-British relations is over.
But I am afraid that the future of Sino-British relations will not stop at the level of "no more golden age".
Xin Weicheng did not use the word "threat" but the deterioration of Sino-British relations is inevitable : The UK must do more to promote the values of freedom and openness to the outside world