UK should not let itself be hoodwinked by Washington

Even before he took office as prime minister of the United Kingdom in July, unlike other Western politicians, Keir Starmer held a comparatively practical view of China, being aware that if the UK really wanted to breathe life back into its stagnant economy it could not afford to turn the world's second-largest economy from a key trading partner and investor into an opponent. That made him one of the few among his Western peers to win an election without playing the "China card".

Although that does not mean the Starmer government has a rational outlook on China-related issues, such as those relating to Hong Kong, given that it still aligns closely with the United States on the agenda, it has done a good job in not letting these issues stall the overall healthy development of Sino-UK relations.

Ever since President Xi Jinping met Starmer in Rio de Janeiro in November, the two sides have doubled down on their joint efforts to not only break the ice frozen during the earlier Rishi Sunak government — which blindly toed the then Joe Biden administration's China-containment policy — but also explore every opportunity to resume, expand and upgrade their cooperative projects.