New Report on Chinese economic threats

British policymakers should ‘seek truth from facts’ when it comes to China, says Charles Parton OBE.

In the first Report from the Council on Geostrategy, Charles Parton – a former diplomat with nearly three decades of experience working in and on China – makes the case that China’s economic threats are overstated.

You can read the report here.

He examines the cases of several nations put in the ‘diplomatic doghouse’ by China in response to policies that the Chinese Communist Party deemed unacceptable, including Australia, Canada and Norway. Trade data demonstrates that in almost every case, exports from the targeted country to China actually increased, which supports Charles’ argument that policy-makers can afford to make decisions that might frustrate the Chinese Communist Party.

The CCP’s foreign policy is largely built upon economic sticks and carrots, not upon shared values, cultural influence, or even military power – to say nothing of alliances. The implicit – and sometimes explicit – inducement/threat is that, unless the UK supports the Chinese narrative, it will suffer […]

Charles Parton OBE

The six areas that the Report identifies as being subject to Chinese threats are:

  1. Exports;
  2. Chinese investment in the UK;
  3. The financial and associated services of the City of London;
  4. The number of Chinese students at British universities;
  5. Tourist visits; or, 
  6. Cooperation over climate change.

You can read the report here.