By Jamil Anderlini in Beijing
David Cameron meets the Dalai Lama at the Houses of Parliament
Britain has “sold the store”, “surrendered” and “totally capitulated” in its efforts to get back into the good graces of the Chinese leadership, in the words of several senior Beijing-based diplomats from Asia and Europe.
Diplomats can be a catty bunch and there is more than a whiff of hypocrisy from the representatives of countries that have themselves gone to great lengths to ingratiate themselves with an increasingly powerful China.
But, as Prime Minister David Cameron arrives in Beijing on Monday to begin his first state visit in more than two years, it is hard to avoid the perception that the UK, like most other countries, is struggling to come to terms with a more assertive China.
British diplomats insist the UK’s position has not changed on human rights or on Tibet but European diplomats and human rights groups say London has clearly downgraded these issues over the past year. What Britain has got in return is not entirely clear.
The UK was thrown into the diplomatic deep-freeze in May 2012 after Mr Cameron and Nick Clegg, deputy prime minister, posed for smiling photos with the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibet, during his trip to London.
China reviles the Nobel peace prize-winning lama as a “wolf in monk’s robes” who is bent on Tibetan independence.
Britain has “sold the store”, “surrendered” and “totally capitulated” in its efforts to get back into the good graces of the Chinese leadership, in the words of several senior Beijing-based diplomats from Asia and Europe.
Diplomats can be a catty bunch and there is more than a whiff of hypocrisy from the representatives of countries that have themselves gone to great lengths to ingratiate themselves with an increasingly powerful China.
But, as Prime Minister David Cameron arrives in Beijing on Monday to begin his first state visit in more than two years, it is hard to avoid the perception that the UK, like most other countries, is struggling to come to terms with a more assertive China.
British diplomats insist the UK’s position has not changed on human rights or on Tibet but European diplomats and human rights groups say London has clearly downgraded these issues over the past year. What Britain has got in return is not entirely clear.
The UK was thrown into the diplomatic deep-freeze in May 2012 after Mr Cameron and Nick Clegg, deputy prime minister, posed for smiling photos with the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibet, during his trip to London.
China reviles the Nobel peace prize-winning lama as a “wolf in monk’s robes” who is bent on Tibetan independence.
Beijing views any official meetings with him by foreign leaders as part of a Western plot to split China.
The feeling among other European countries, in particular, is that the UK mishandled the initial meeting with the Tibetan leader and then gave in too quickly and completely in its efforts to make up with Beijing.
Mr Cameron’s decision earlier this year to emphasise Britain’s opposition to Tibetan independence in the House of Commons made the UK look weak when it did not yield an immediate thaw.
The feeling among other European countries, in particular, is that the UK mishandled the initial meeting with the Tibetan leader and then gave in too quickly and completely in its efforts to make up with Beijing.
Mr Cameron’s decision earlier this year to emphasise Britain’s opposition to Tibetan independence in the House of Commons made the UK look weak when it did not yield an immediate thaw.
Subsequent lobbying to arrange official visits before the end of the year looked over-eager.
The fact that trade and investment between the UK and China did not seem to be affected in the wake of the Dalai Lama meeting has only added to the perception that London is trying too hard.
The fact that trade and investment between the UK and China did not seem to be affected in the wake of the Dalai Lama meeting has only added to the perception that London is trying too hard.
British exports to China have doubled to £15.9bn in the past five years and last year, even after the May meeting, the UK ranked fourth as a destination for outbound Chinese investment, behind only Hong Kong, the US and Kazakhstan.
That was up from the UK’s position at No 8 in 2011 and No 21 in 2010.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, European diplomats say that British euroscepticism has made it less able to come to a unified position with other European countries when dealing with China on issues such as meeting the Dalai Lama.
That leaves the UK exposed to more pressure from Beijing, which is adept at exploiting rifts and rivalries within the EU.
A wider question can be asked in all of this that has been around for as long as liberal democratic political systems have had foreign policies: does it do anyone any good to lecture authoritarian regimes on universal values?
To Chinese ears, something is faintly ridiculous when the UK, which China blames for the 19th century opium wars, colonialism and “100 years of humiliation”, comes to Beijing with sermons for communist officials about human rights.
As Boris Johnson, London mayor, put it in his inimitable way during a visit to China in October: “I don’t walk into a meeting and say, ‘I say, you chaps, how’s freedom doing?’.”
The business community looks at the potential opportunities in China’s enormous market and asks how useful British finger-wagging is.
“If defending the rights of the Dalai Lama puts the UK behind the French and other countries in the relative pecking order in the eyes of the new Chinese leadership, then that is a big mistake and very depressing for Britain,” one Western financier told the FT this week.
The answer, of course, is that abandoning the defence of universal values in the hopes of more market access or better political relations is an even less effective way of earning the respect of China’s leaders or anyone else.
To be fair, it is not just the UK that appears increasingly reluctant to bring up such issues in the face of China’s growing market demand, power and influence.
Given Beijing’s willingness and ability to inflict diplomatic and economic pain, it is quite likely that the ageing Dalai Lama will never again be granted an audience with a European leader in his lifetime.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, European diplomats say that British euroscepticism has made it less able to come to a unified position with other European countries when dealing with China on issues such as meeting the Dalai Lama.
That leaves the UK exposed to more pressure from Beijing, which is adept at exploiting rifts and rivalries within the EU.
A wider question can be asked in all of this that has been around for as long as liberal democratic political systems have had foreign policies: does it do anyone any good to lecture authoritarian regimes on universal values?
To Chinese ears, something is faintly ridiculous when the UK, which China blames for the 19th century opium wars, colonialism and “100 years of humiliation”, comes to Beijing with sermons for communist officials about human rights.
As Boris Johnson, London mayor, put it in his inimitable way during a visit to China in October: “I don’t walk into a meeting and say, ‘I say, you chaps, how’s freedom doing?’.”
The business community looks at the potential opportunities in China’s enormous market and asks how useful British finger-wagging is.
“If defending the rights of the Dalai Lama puts the UK behind the French and other countries in the relative pecking order in the eyes of the new Chinese leadership, then that is a big mistake and very depressing for Britain,” one Western financier told the FT this week.
The answer, of course, is that abandoning the defence of universal values in the hopes of more market access or better political relations is an even less effective way of earning the respect of China’s leaders or anyone else.
To be fair, it is not just the UK that appears increasingly reluctant to bring up such issues in the face of China’s growing market demand, power and influence.
Given Beijing’s willingness and ability to inflict diplomatic and economic pain, it is quite likely that the ageing Dalai Lama will never again be granted an audience with a European leader in his lifetime.
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