The foreign secretary has landed in China for meetings with senior members of the government as Rishi Sunak comes under pressure at home over how to approach the country.
James Cleverly is holding talks with senior Chinese officials – including minister of foreign affairs Wang Yi and vice president Han Zheng – on issues ranging from climate change to international security in what is the first visit to China by a UK foreign secretary in more than five years.
After meeting Mr Zheng he said it was “important that our countries meet face-to-face regularly to avoid misunderstanding”.
“It is important to address the challenges and differences of opinion that all countries have in bilateral relations,” he added.
Mr Cleverly’s trip comes on the same day as MPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee call for an unclassified strategy on China that does not just deal with trade and security, but also concerns around diplomatic engagement, human rights and technological cooperation.
The 87-page report is in response to the “Tilt to the Indo-Pacific” announced in the integrated review of 2021, in which the government identified Russia as an “active threat” and China as a “systemic challenge”.
But the committee’s report said there was “confusion across Whitehall about the Tilt to the Indo-Pacific”, arising from a “failure to explain the policy”.
Alicia Kearns, the Conservative chair of the committee, described the government’s China strategy as “confidential” and “elusive”, adding that it was “buried deep in Whitehall, kept hidden even from senior ministers across government”.
“How can those implementing policy – and making laws – do so without an understanding of the overall strategy?” she said.
Ms Kearns said the UK needed to “shore up” its relationship with Indo-Pacific states to counter China’s threat.
She described Taiwan – which fears an invasion by China – as an “important ally and partner of the UK” and urged the government to “stand shoulder to shoulder” with the island and make clear that attempts to undermine its self-determination were “unacceptable”.
“It’s only by shoring up our networks in the Indo-Pacific that we can temper China’s economic and political expansionism, offering a viable, democratic alternative to Indo-Pacific states,” she said.
“Strengthening our diplomatic, defensive and economic ties in the Indo-Pacific is critical – if the West leaves a vacuum, China will eagerly fill it.
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“Resilience and deterrence must be at the core of our foreign policy. Concentrations of power can easily end up in the wrong hands. Diversifying our supply chains, particularly our supply of semiconductors, will protect us in the long term.”
In response to the committee calling for the full, unclassified China strategy to be published, senior government figures said that everything they were comfortable with sharing had already been put in the public domain.
Speaking ahead of the visit, Mr Cleverly adopted a more collaborative approach to China, saying: “No significant global problem – from climate change to pandemic prevention, from economic instability to nuclear proliferation – can be solved without China.
“China’s size, history and global significance means they cannot be ignored, but that comes with a responsibility on the global stage. That responsibility means China fulfilling its international commitments and obligations.”
Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the government needed to” demonstrate that it can get a grip on the UK-China relationship by securing tangible diplomatic wins in Britain’s interests”.
He said the “first test” in determining the success of the visit would be whether or not Mr Cleverly could secure an end to the sanctions China has placed on British MPs, including former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith and security minister Tom Tugendhat.