Britain would do well to remember where its power over Simon Jenkins’ China lies

TThe United States has backed down in its tariff war with China. Thanks to Donald Trump’s selfish diplomacy, rare earths can once again flow in one direction, soybeans in the other, and smaller amounts of the chemicals used to make fentanyl in between. Never mind that the war was Trump’s own idea and appears to have been a ruse. The trick is over. Trump played his favorite deal-making game, much to the annoyance of millions.

Meanwhile, Britain is still unable to decide whether China is its enemy. In 2008, British officials visited Olympic authorities in Beijing to discuss the upcoming Games in London in 2012. The government asked them to “raise” human rights issues, in which the British government was deeply concerned. I am told that the Chinese reacted sympathetically to the embarrassment to which the British were exposed when this issue was broached, and then everyone sprang into action. China quickly became friends with David Cameron and George Osborne.

Not today. China is now a greatly strengthened global power and, in the eyes of some, a threat to British national security. The recent confusion over whether two British officials are Chinese spies has largely and absurdly revolved around whether the Chinese “threat” is greater to the Conservative government than to the Labor government. Clearly, China has been recruiting spies everywhere, as most countries do. She sought to establish a huge embassy in London, befriended Prince Andrew, and asked Boris Johnson to send two aircraft carriers to patrol the South China Sea.

Proud nations crave enemies. They have large military empires that depend heavily on them, empires that strongly resist dismantling. After the fall of the Soviet Union, a senior adviser to Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev joked to American officials: “We will do something terrible to you — we will deprive you of an enemy.”

Who is the new enemy of the United States? The obvious answer is China. But as Trump has discovered, he is a difficult enemy to reconcile. It does not send its armies abroad. As it challenges the United States for global economic supremacy, it is severing the link that was once believed to hold capitalism in the embrace of democracy. It gets richer and richer. China’s Bricks-plus alliance with India and other countries I have overstepped G7 in global trade. Even Beijing policy expert Henry Wang It was launched this week The Chinese-led BRICS force could guard the ceasefire borders in Ukraine. It will be an exciting intervention.

G. K. Chesterton wrote that “those who address the head rather than the heart…are necessarily violent men. We speak of ‘touching’ a man’s heart, but we can do nothing for his head but strike it.” Trump may be that punch in the head. It forces NATO to ask itself what the truth is. It asks the world not to rely on the United States to police its conflicts, as Kennedy, Johnson, and Presidents Bush cheered. Washington may be about to turn in on itself and deny its manifest destiny of restoring the world to its rights. After all, it was founded to turn its back on the arguments that invade the outside world.

Since Britain too had global delusions, it of all countries should understand this. It cannot refuse to reconcile with the new Beijing. Yes, China does terrible things to minorities. It denies freedom of expression and erratically spies on foreign countries. In the new era of artificial intelligence, it is clear that China seeks to compete with the United States.

Since this rivalry is likely to include attacks on other countries’ cybersecurity, it makes sense for any country to guard its digital space. Whether this extends to embassy buildings is a matter for experts. But locating a foreign embassy within a five-minute walk of the global financial intelligence center is clearly a bad idea. China must understand this. Would you allow MI6 to set up headquarters overlooking Tiananmen Square?

Britain is no longer a great power, and must deal with the great powers, as all second-rate countries must. But it is unique in one respect. Perhaps its soft power is not worth anything, most notably its cultural and educational assets. It has educated more world leaders – fifty of them, it seems – and received more Chinese students From any other country Including the United States. It also receives half a million Chinese tourists annually, attracting many of them Aspects of British popular culture. We don’t measure soft power, but its influence cannot be negligible – and it is certainly profitable.

It is therefore absurd that the British government is planning to spend billions more on defending Britain against a purely theoretical third world war. At the same time, it is cutting the budget of its cultural institution abroad, the British Council. The Council is forced to withdraw from 60 countries and sell its entire real estate portfolio.

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The message of current events in China is simple. The world has changed from the one on which Britain had long based its foreign and defense policy. It needs to reevaluate the impact its limited power may still have on the outside world. This should include dealing well with China, and not portraying it as an enemy.

• Simon Jenkins is a columnist for The Guardian

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