- Tuesday, April 23, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
AS the race for the post of the British prime minister gets heated up, a distant country has found itself at the centre of all debate.
China, which initially pinned hope on Rishi Sunak, one of the two candidates, since as a former chancellor of the exchequer, he had worked towards bettering relations with the Asian power. But last weekend, he also targeted China with strong words, which left the Chinese side highly disappointed.
On Tuesday (26), China’s belligerent state-controlled tabloid Global Times said the British prime ministerial candidates were attacking China only “to cover their domestic mess”. Its foreign ministry also urged them not to make China an election issue saying such a ploy would not work.
On Wednesday (27), the Global Times came up with yet another strongly-worded opinion piece on the race for the UK prime minister’s post. Titled ‘Please show real courage, UK prime minister candidates’, the piece said Sunak and Liz Truss, the foreign secretary who has been known for her hardline stance on Beijing, were not competing on their ability to govern or respond to crises, “but on their tough attitude toward China”.
“It’s not necessary to talk about Truss, who has always been playing tough on China. Even Sunak, who used to have a relatively “moderate” image, suddenly changed his attitude recently, calling China the “number one threat” to British and global security, and saying that he would take a series of tough measures to fight against China on his first day as prime minister. His remarks were so intense that even people who back Truss said it was “surprising.” The remarks of both Truss and Sunak were not intelligent expressions, but mostly an emotional outburst. For the uninitiated, it is easy to feel confused when watching the debate between the candidates,” the Global Times article said.
It further said that politicians in the West looked to be affected by a disease of bashing China when campaigning. It added that the ongoing campaign in the UK is a “severe version of this malady” as both Truss and Sunak considered China, located more than 8,000 kilometres away, as a threat which surprised even the British media, including the BBC.
“The weak economy, people’s livelihood undergoing difficulties, and high inflation – at a moment when the Conservative government’s policy toward China is getting tougher and even irrational, these domestic problems have not been alleviated, but have become more prominent and serious. Doesn’t this reveal real problems? Obviously, these bucks can’t be put on China. Besides, was Boris Johnson forced to resign because he was weak on China?” it asked.
It said while everyone could take note of the fact that “under the current distorted atmosphere towards China in the UK and the US”, showing “toughness” against China is the easiest, “safest” and cheapest way but at the same time, “it is very detrimental”.
The Global Times also supported the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson advising Britain’s politicians that bashing China at every turn instead of finding actual solutions to the UK’s problems would only cause more damage to their own country.
