{"id":8195,"date":"2021-07-20T07:00:48","date_gmt":"2021-07-20T07:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/?p=8195"},"modified":"2025-04-23T09:51:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T09:51:11","slug":"how-much-uk-need-china-post-brexit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/how-much-uk-need-china-post-brexit\/","title":{"rendered":"How much does the UK need China post Brexit?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a new policy update, Joe Cash explores how the House of Lords’ International Relations & Defence Committee inquiry into the UK\u2019s security and trade relationship with China is shaping up, and how the consensus view is that the UK cannot afford to self-isolate from China \u2013 even if Beijing asks London difficult questions at times<\/h2>\n

The political conversation on China in Parliament and across Whitehall has changed in recent years, and for a number of reasons. But that was always likely to happen following the UK\u2019s departure from the EU, because the repatriation of responsibilities concerning China was bound to make the UK\u2019s relationship with the market more visible to the British electorate \u2013 and more controversial.<\/p>\n

Whereas trade was previously an exclusive competence of the European Union<\/a>, the question of whether the UK trades more or less with China is now up to the politicians in Westminster. As a result, the Government is under more pressure than before to ensure that it balances how it articulates its normative principles and political interests with the economic case for continued engagement with China. This has seen the political conversation on China become more heated, and MPs from across the political spectrum are increasingly keen to convince the government of the importance \u2013 or lack thereof \u2013 of China to their constituents and hold its actions to account.<\/p>\n

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But come out of the Commons, and along the corridors of the Palace of Westminster, and the nature of the China debate changes again; for while MPs watch the government, the House of Lords scrutinises the motions passed by MPs. This briefing will explain why the House of Lords International Relations and Defence Committee has opened an inquiry into the UK\u2019s security and trade relationship<\/a> with China, how it is progressing, and what observers can take away concerning the political conversation on China taking place in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n