Letters | UK needs an independent China policy, not just a Trump hedge
Readers discuss the British prime minister’s visit to Beijing, allies drifting away from Washington, and the blame game over narcotics
Yet, Starmer is sober enough to recognise that in the era of Donald Trump, such a vision is a luxury. The sitting United States president was the undeniable elephant in the room as Starmer met Chinese President Xi Jinping. Many viewed the meeting through the lens of reactivity and saw it as a British pivot towards China after Trump’s “America first” foray into Venezuela and threats to Greenland and Canada left traditional alliances looking rather thin.
However, this narrow interpretation obscures the reality of the bilateral opportunity. To view the relationship only as a hedge against Washington is to do a disservice to British interests. From halving whisky tariffs to allowing United Kingdom citizens 30-day visa-free travel, China is offering tangible economic benefits independently of the transatlantic climate.
Furthermore, the narrative overlooks the strategic autonomy Beijing is urging for London. According to the readout, Xi gave considerable weight to the necessity of taking the long view: seeing history from a broad perspective, building mutual trust and understanding the cultural roots of Chinese governance.
This brings us to a second elephant, the one from the story of blind men who touch an elephant’s leg, or belly, and mistake those parts for the whole. Recounting the story Xi told him as he spoke to the UK-China Business Council later, Starmer said China had been seen too often through fragmented perspectives, while his engagement with Beijing was a way of “seeing the whole elephant”.
The welcome rhetoric must be matched by a clear-eyed strategy: defining China policy not in the shadow of a third party, but by the weight of mutual interest.