Speaking on Tuesday, the new director general of Britain’s domestic security intelligence service warned that China was engaged in increasing “interference” in British politics. Explicitly referencing China, Ken McCallum added that Britain must be “robust in confronting covert hostile activity when we come across it.”
This statement reflects a quiet recognition of MI5’s years of underinvestment in countering China and Russia. And China isn’t happy to hear it.
Responding to McCallum, the government-controlled Global Times screeched that his words reflect an imperial lament that Beijing has an independent foreign policy. China’s primary West-focused propaganda outlet then used McCallum’s remarks as a pivot on which to lament Britain’s increasingly skeptical attitude towards the Chinese Communist Party. The paper warned that “By opposing China, or even regarding China as an adversary, the UK will lose its huge opportunity to further develop. As its national strength declines, the UK must understand that choosing an unreliable U.S. as its backing is an irresponsible and hasty decision.”
There’s a typical Chinese Communist arrogance at play here.
McCallum’s remarks, after all, were quite considerably softer than they might have been. Although the director general warned that the threats posed to Britain from China, Russia, and Iran were “growing in severity and complexity,” he also called for pursuing the “opportunities” offered by engagement with China. That balance reflects the broader strategy London aims to apply to its China dealings in the coming years. Although Prime Minister Boris Johnson has moved to restrict China’s Huawei telecommunications firm from long-term access to Britain’s 5G network, he has not moved as aggressively on China security concerns as some top Conservative parliamentarians would like to see.
Were China’s leaders more astute about these subtleties, they might adopt a more cautious tone in their rhetoric toward the British government. Indeed, it might pay to extend the carrot rather than the stick — to offer more lucrative trade deals as soon as possible. Such a strategy would offer the prospect of diluting the power of the British security constituency and give a sense of economic optimism to a nation that is grappling with both COVID-19 and post-Brexit trade challenges. Considering how Russia’s matching of investment to assassinations worked wonders in earning the pathetic silence of successive British governments, China might presume to have a reasonable prospect of succeeding in any influence effort.
Fortunately, in that any deal with Communist China is ultimately a deal with the devil, Beijing doesn’t do nuance. Hence we see only the arrogant, emotionally-driven demand that London change course or reap the whirlwind.
What’s striking here is that China doesn’t recognize how badly this bullying plays with democratic populations. Take Australia, which is now facing a trade war that Beijing has explicitly tied to Canberra’s resistance of Chinese imperialism. Unsurprisingly, Australian attitudes toward China have never been worse. Australia’s elected leaders will ultimately reflect that sentiment.
The challenge for China is that while its economic power to give and take is great, so also is the resolve of democratic peoples to see their futures shaped by democratic choices rather than by feudal servitude to Beijing. Whether Britain, Australia, or the nations of the Mekong River, Xi Jinping claims to offer only a world of mutually beneficial trade and cooperation.
Fortunately, the world sees through the lies.
