Exclusive | Peter Mandelson on why UK’s U-turn on China was a big ‘mistake’, what Labour will do next

Britain’s biggest mistake with China over the past decade was its sharp shift from courtship to aversion, according to a British Labour Party veteran, who stressed that Britain could not afford to boycott Beijing. Peter Mandelson, a close adviser to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and an influential figure in the Labour Party during the Tony Blair era, told the Post that the new Labour government would do things differently – seeking to stabilise relations and offer consistency in Britain’s relationship with China. “It does not mean normalising the relationship as this isn’t possible given how much we compete with China and sometimes challenge China … But we need a relationship that enables us to cooperate with China when desirable and necessary,” he said. “And it’s that clarity and that continuity that we are pursuing in any re-engagement with China following the audit of the relationship.” Led by successive Conservative governments for more than a decade, Britain’s ties with China declined as it grew to view China as a security challenge. Mandelson, the former trade secretary, said past Conservative leaders handled relations with China “very unimpressively” and ex-prime minister David Cameron’s courtship of China was naive. “It was neither golden nor was it long-lasting,” he said, referring to Cameron’s proclamation of a so-called golden era of ties with China when he was leader in 2015. “Boris Johnson took a more instrumental approach which ignored human rights. Liz Truss was violently anti-China. And then her successor, Rishi Sunak, thought Britain could simply boycott China,” he said. “[Britain’s] biggest mistake is that it swung violently from one side to another. Violent courtship then violent antipathy. That’s just not sensible or realistic.” In July, following the Labour Party’s landslide election victory, Starmer’s government called for a “full audit” of the country’s relations with China. In the first call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and a British prime minister since 2022, Starmer and Xi last month agreed on the need for a “stable and consistent” China-Britain relationship. Mandelson said that even as trade was increasingly shaped along geopolitical lines, Britain – with its natural disposition towards free trade – “can’t boycott the biggest and fastest-growing economy in the world”. In its engagement with China, Britain needed to consistently express its views on human rights while pursuing its economic interests. “One shouldn’t overwhelm the other,” he said, adding that the tension between these two priorities could be managed. Mandelson, who is now president of strategic advisory firm Global Counsel, also urged China to exercise its role and responsibilities in the international system, including contributing to the resolution of conflicts such as the war in Ukraine. Russia’s infringement of Ukrainian territorial integrity and sovereignty, he said, was not only “extremely serious” for the eastern European nation but it also represented a “direct and continuing threat to Europe as a whole”. “China which has always stood for territorial integrity and sovereignty … seems to be making an exception when it comes to Ukraine. This is hypocritical and hangs like a dark cloud over China’s relationship with the European Union,” he said. Since the war broke out in February 2022, Beijing has been unwilling to openly condemn Russia’s actions, and instead has sought to deepen ties with Moscow. Mandelson described Beijing’s decision to prioritise its relationship with Moscow as “astonishing”, given the economic stakes between China and Europe. “This is very short-sighted and I cannot believe that Beijing is of one mind on pursuing this course, because it’s contrary to China’s medium and long-term interests,” he said. According to Mandelson, there is no question in European capitals that China is sustaining Russia’s war effort by supporting the Russian economy and its ability to continue its aggression against Ukraine – even as Beijing maintains that it is not providing military help. “This causes the gravest concern to policymakers in Europe. We feel that China is not only contradicting its own principles … but is placing itself in opposition to what is an existential interest of Europe’s,” he said, adding that European countries would want to see Beijing reconsidering its position. Asked how big of an issue the Ukraine war was in China’s relationship with Europe, Mandelson said: “Very big. It’s much bigger than China seems to realise.”

Exclusive | Peter Mandelson on why UK’s U-turn on China was a big ‘mistake’, what Labour will do next

The close Starmer adviser says ‘violent’ shifts in diplomatic direction are not realistic or sensible