UK: "Successful engagement with China must always be framed by an understanding that China is an inherently hostile authoritarian state that does not share our values", report says

"The PRC [People's Republic of China] is not China, nor the custodian of Chinese history, culture or values. What it promotes, whether on UK universities campuses through Confucius Institutes, through “art and cultural” engagement, through social media and through personal exchange, is political narrative," a report published by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac), an international group of China experts, says.

For many years UK China policy has been 'beset by incoherence,' with different departments pursuing mutually contradictory approaches. As a result, Ipac states, past engagement with Beijing has often "exposed the UK to the risks of interference without delivering the opportunities promised."

Although British expertise exists, it is often siloed and “not translated into capability”, says Ipac, pointing to budget cuts as an additional problem.

The organization's report says that engagement with China 'must rise above party politics.'

'The elected government should work with other parties in Parliament to determine the UK’s long-term relationship with China. We need sustained cross-party dialogue, and a shared commitment to putting the UK’s long-term interests first. Whatever our political differences, we should recognise that the opportunities and risks presented by China demand a united and considered national response.'

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Ipac counts almost 50 MPs among its members, including from Labour, the Conservatives, the Liberal Democrats, the Scottish National party, the Greens and Reform.

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