The British Foreign Office called a mistake a possible declaration of a Cold War to China

It would be a mistake for China to declare a Cold War, says British Foreign Secretary James Cleverley. About it reported newspaper Financial Times (FT) with reference to the text of the minister’s forthcoming speech at the residence of the Lord Mayor of London.

“It would be clear and easy for me – perhaps even pleasant – to declare a new cold war and say that our goal is to isolate China. Clear, easy, pleasant and wrong. Because that would be a betrayal of our national interests and a deliberate misunderstanding of the modern world.

According to Cleverly, “no significant global problem” can be solved without China. At the same time, the minister also noted the kingdom’s differences with China, for example, regarding the civil rights of Hong Kong residents and Uyghurs, as well as relations with Taiwan.

April 18, Cleverly in an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian declaredthat the kingdom should continue to engage with China because severing relations would be “counterproductive” for London itself. Then he noted that he understands the reaction of his colleagues to the PRC authorities, but, in his opinion, it is not in “their interests, not in my interests and not in the interests of anyone else to simply draw the curtains in these relations.”

At the end of November 2022, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced about the end of the “golden era” of relations between London and Beijing, which was proclaimed in 2015 by the then Prime Minister David Cameron.

According to Sunak, the Chinese authorities have challenged British interests and values. However, he did not call China a threat and noted that the West cannot ignore its influence on world affairs and its ability to help solve common problems.

In the middle of the same month, Bloomberg, citing the head of the British Security Service (MI5), Ken McCallum declaredthat the PRC and other foreign states, including Russia, are interested in spying on British politicians. He also talked about “establishing contacts” with deputies and scientists from the UK by Chinese intelligence.

On January 8 this year, the Daily Mail newspaper informedthat a SIM card capable of transmitting location data was found in a government vehicle. According to the British newspaper, the sensor was inside a card that was imported from China.