Chinese state media have welcomed the appointment of the former prime minister David Cameron as the UK’s foreign secretary, as opponents of Beijing raised concerns about the return of a figure closely associated with the “golden era” of UK-China relations.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Chinese state media have welcomed the appointment of the former prime minister David Cameron as the UK’s foreign secretary, as opponents of Beijing raised concerns about the return of a figure closely associated with the “golden era” of UK-China relations.
It added: “But Cameron’s pragmatic approach toward China in the past may be at odds with the Tories’ increasingly hardline stance today, and he now faces a tenser and more complex geopolitical situation.”
At the Chinese foreign ministry’s regular press briefing on Tuesday, spokesperson Mao Ning was more muted, declining to answer a question about whether Cameron was a friend of China.
Nonetheless, the fund struggled to get off the ground as relations between Beijing and London soured, particularly after the UK’s criticism of the crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong.
Luke de Pulford, the director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said Cameron had been “shilling for the UK’s biggest security threat” and that his appointment was “a strategic own goal for Rishi Sunak”.
In the Global Times editorial, Chinese academics expressed concern that despite Cameron’s appointment, the Conservative party would be “more inclined to be tough on China”, even if that worked against British interests.
The original article contains 763 words, the summary contains 199 words. Saved 74%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
DrCake@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Whatever your personal opinions on China, it’s not a great look for a party who have tried to position themselves as “tough on China” to then have China “welcome” their new foreign secretary.