Warm welcome shows UK's new thinking
- By Yang Fang
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail Guangming Online, October 21, 2015
The UK was the first western country that announced to join the Asian Infrastructure Invest Bank (AIIB) in March, causing the domino effect that other advanced economies joined the AIIB one after another. British government also supports London to establish "the center for RMB in the West". Therefore, Britain expressed its support for RMB's admission into the IMF's SDR basket at the IMF annual meeting.
It is a pragmatic move for the UK to maintain close China relations with China.
The UK also wants to rebuild its national image and increase its influence in the world through enhancing China-UK relations. Britain is always famous for its pragmatic diplomacy and maintains a strong perspective of overall situation of powers. Britain is traditional diplomatic power playing a more pro-active role in international affairs as a second-level power. But its global influence has weakened in the 21st century and its strength also declined due to financial crisis and economic crisis, resulting in the rise of conservative diplomacy and even "isolationist" feelings.
In recent years, British PM Cameron coped with the trend of Scotland's national splittism and the "quit Europe" tide through "referendum", but Britain's national status and its position in Europe has been in huge uncertainty.
Under such circumstance, enhancing China-UK strategic exchanges via model innovation to cope with new changes in international pattern obviously has become the UK government's new option to upgrade its influence.
British mainstream public opinion is in favor of befriending China
It is not only British mainstream political consensus, but also prevalent public opinion to be friendly to China. The British PM Cameron and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne's efforts to improve UK-China relations have received firm support from mainstream political leaders. A poll by BBC in last June shows that the proportion of British people who kept a positive attitude to China increased dramatically.
Therefore, the grand royal welcome ceremony for President Xi shows the entire British society's high expectations on the bilateral relations based on mutual benefit and win-win results. As the UK is a major advanced economy and a western power with global influence, it is also of great significance for China to develop close China-UK relations in economic development and improvement of people's wellbeing as its economy enters a state of New Normal.
China has expanded its investments in the UK from Huawei's large-scale participation in British telecommunications industry to infrastructure construction, including nuclear power plant, airport, water-related affairs and even high-speed rail, which is rare in the West. And Britain, a country that does well in finance and service industry, will also play a unique role in China's future economic development.
Contributed by Yang Fang, associate researcher of China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, for Guangming Daily
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)