Beijing Review – August 15, 2019

24 BEIJING REVIEW AUGUST 15, 2019 http://www.bjreview.com

WORLD

T

he internal election of a new British
Conservative Party leader at the end
of July also meant that the United
Kingdom (UK) got a new prime minister.
Boris Johnson comes to power therefore via
a route with no national election to legiti-
mize him. He is also, even in his own party, a
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In spite of this, he has promised to
achieve what his two predecessors, David
Cameron and Theresa May, failed to do:
take the UK out of the European Union (EU),
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of this scheme will be to construct a new
narrative for a “Global Britain,” and China will
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Over confident?

Unlike Nigel Farage, former leader of the
UK Independence Party and now heading
the Brexit Party, Johnson has not shirked re-
sponsibility. When the chance came he put
himself forward to implement something
he was a key proponent of three years ago.
This may well be due to hubris and over con-
fidence rather than anything else however.
Unlike May, Johnson has only a few months
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rhetoric.
On the specific issue of relations
with China, the Latin-and-Greek-quoting
Johnson comes with some knowledge, but
no real indication of any deep commitment
or fresh vision. He does not, like former
Chancellor of the Exchequer George

Osborne, have any evident strong personal

interest in China. He visited as Mayor of

London in order to fulfill his duties as the

succeeding host city of the Olympics in

2008. But during his time as foreign secre-
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      and under-performance, he postponed a
      number of proposed trips to China and in
      the end, he simply never visited.
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      good grounds for regarding him with skepti-
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      who are simply taking a wait and see approach
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      his leadership. One attribute Johnson does
      have is an ability to delegate well, and to
      gather credible advisors around him. On China,
      therefore, the key issue is not so much his lack
      of track record and any demonstrable knowl-
      edge, but whether he is honest about this and
      hires people he trusts and listens to who can
      compensate for his inexperience.
      These figures may not be in the British
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      in office from 2016 to 2018 are not happy
      ones. Johnson’s often cavalier attitude to-
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      relations with civil servants generally, means
      that his likely sources of advice will be from
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At a crossroads

Johnson is a risk taker, however, and

things could become more interesting.

The relationship with China is at a cross-

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economic links between the UK and China

are the most underwhelming. Unlike

Australia, the United States or Germany,

China is not the UK’s largest trading part-

ner. Ireland and Luxembourg rank higher,

while Chinese investment in the UK is

less than 2 percent. For the economic

life of the average British person, China is

peripheral, while Chinese companies are

almost invisible.

There is an associated point to this.

While we now know—thanks to the 2016

EU referendum—what British people think

of their European neighbors, warts and all,

how they regard China is much more of a

mystery. Engagement with China, whether

in business, academia or more generally

in society, is still a specialist area. The UK

has world class expertise in these areas,

but almost next to no capacity elsewhere.

It produces 300 graduates in Chinese

studies nationally a year, a 0 percent in-

crease over the level from two decades

ago. Therefore, the British can understand

Tang Dynasty (618-907) era poetry but

can’t even say “thank you” in Mandarin.

This is indicative of a huge variance, and

levels in other areas of knowledge are

similar.

To most British people, China is remote

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to London than Sydney. Chinese history,

politics and culture are things that are

Boris and Beijing

Will the UK’s new prime minister turn toward China? By Kerry Brown

The author is an op-ed

contributor to Beijing

Review and Director of

the Lau China Institute

at King’s College,

London

As he drives the UK toward becoming a “Global

Britain” no longer intimately linked to the EU,

Johnson could fundamentally change this dynamic

by raising the profile and priority of China for the

British people