torsdag 8. april 2021

Boris Johnson desperately needs a more coherent China strategy

Like many of its global counterparts, the United Kingdom is in desperate need of a China strategy. Many of the world's middling to large economies have benefited from inward Chinese investment since the global financial crisis of 2008. For over a decade, China's extraordinary wealth offered an obvious way out of recession when options for investment elsewhere were limited.

Fast forward to 2021, and the decision to woo an authoritarian government with alleged ambitions to challenge the United States as the primary global superpower looks naïve. China has become a hot issue in British politics over the past 12 months, as lawmakers and activists have become aware of how much the UK relies on a country that stands against many of the things that it claims to uphold. And many in London are worried that Prime Minister Boris Johnson has neither the time nor imagination to adequately handle one of Britain's greatest foreign challenges.