The United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson to visit India after a diplomatic relationship with China deteriorated at all times low. The UK PM Boris Johnson will visit India at the end of April on his first major international tour following the UK’s exit from the European Union.
Downing Street has announced on his visit, as Britain seeks to “unlock” the opportunities in the strategic Indo-Pacific region. Anti-China block to get the United Kingdom’s direct support.
In just a few months, the United Kingdom’s overall policy toward China has changed dramatically. Until recently, Downing Street was famously defining itself as “China’s best partner in the West” and was committed to intensifying its proclaimed “golden era” of relations with Beijing. Britain was the first G7 country to join the Chinese-founded Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), described itself as the most open Western economy to Chinese investment and promoted an economic approach within the European Union that largely favoured Chinese interests. Just before taking over as prime minister in July of last year, Boris Johnson insisted that his government would be very “pro-China” and “very enthusiastic about the Belt and Road Initiative.” Since then, however, the U.K. has become one of China’s most vocal critics, infuriating Beijing with its removal of Huawei from its 5G network, its decision to provide millions of Hong Kongers a pathway to British citizenship and its plans to clamp down on Chinese investments.
Beijing’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak followed by its unprecedented assertiveness abroad seems to have acted as a wake-up call for many in Britain. In the words of Sir John Sawers, the former MI6 chief, “The last six months have revealed more about China under President Xi Jinping than the previous six years.” While Xi’s regime has not changed overnight, the coronavirus outbreak was perhaps the first time that Britons fully realized that decisions taken in Beijing could also have life-threatening consequences for them.
Furthermore, it exposed their country’s overreliance on an authoritarian regime for vital goods such as ventilators and personal protective equipment. Britons, like many others, came to the sobering realization that if they were to get into the Chinese Communist Party’s bad books, Xi could simply decide to turn off the supply tap.
From China’s so-called “wolf warrior” diplomats and extensive disinformation campaigns to its crackdown on Hong Kong and irredentist posturing, Beijing succeeded at presenting itself as a much graver threat than had been hitherto understood. Its intensified crackdown on Xinjiang’s Uyghur population has only added to its rapidly deteriorating international image. Meanwhile, Chinese attempts at meddling within the U.K. – by spying, manipulating politicians and controlling academic research – have made headlines. A new sense of vulnerability vis-à-vis China has emerged, not just in terms of supply chains but also in terms of the Chinese government’s perceived attacks on liberal democracies and their values. It has suddenly dawned on many Britons that China’s rise to great power status is no longer a prospect, but an uncomfortable reality that has to be dealt with in the present.
At these backdrop, the visit by Prime Minister Boris Johnson with India marks the new era for the Indo-Pacific region.
With inputs from the diplomats, Social media, The UK
