Hunt Says UK Need to Talk to China Trumps Espionage Dispute

Kitty Donaldson and Haslinda Amin
·3 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Jeremy Hunt said the UK takes any attempt to subvert its democratic processes “very seriously,” but that an escalating espionage dispute with China underscored the need for diplomatic dialog with Beijing.

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Members of the UK’s ruling Conservative Party are urging Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government to take a tougher line with Beijing, after British police confirmed over the weekend that two men were arrested under the Official Secrets Act in March accused of espionage. China denied any involvement.

Speaking to Bloomberg TV during a visit to Delhi, Chancellor of the Exchequer Hunt said the government is “very confident that we will be able to keep the fabric and the functioning of our democracy secure,” but that “we do not expect other countries to try and interfere with it.”

Asked if Sunak should still meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in light of the developments, Hunt replied: “Of course.”

“Diplomacy is about talking to everyone, and Britain will always understand that,” Hunt said. “And of course when you have that dialog, you are able to talk about the things that you disagree about.”

The tone reflects the balance Sunak’s government is trying to strike, even as demands grow from some Tories for the UK to designate China a strategic threat to UK interests. The prime minister seeks a relationship that recognizes Beijing’s economic heft while acknowledging concerns around human rights.

But the espionage row complicates that effort. Sunak was forced to raise UK concerns about interference with China’s premier Li Qiang while at the meeting of the G-20 in India on Sunday. “We will defend our democracy, and our security,” he told the House of Commons on Monday.

The spy row will bolster Tory calls for China to be designated a threat, according to Jonathan Sullivan, an associate professor at the University of Nottingham’s school of politics. “That doesn’t help the government, which knows that doing so will damage any hope of resetting our economic relations with China.”

There’s a potential flash point in the fall. According to a person familiar with the matter, the UK has invited China to attend Sunak’s summit on artificial intelligence that is a core priority for the prime minister.

His spokesman declined to confirm if that was the case, but now some Tory MPs are calling for China to be uninvited.

“The problem lies in the mess we’ve got into over what we define China as with respect to us,” said former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith told Parliament. “If they are a threat, why do we not call them a threat and take the relative action that is necessary to deal with them on that basis and sanctions some people?”

Former Prime Minister Liz Truss also weighed in. “What we need to do is to recognize that China is the largest threat both to the world and the United Kingdom for freedom and democracy.”

Read More: UK Parliament Aide in China Spy Dispute Says He’s Innocent (1)

Meanwhile a former UK parliamentary researcher mentioned in reports about Chinese spying said Monday he is innocent.

“It is wrong that I should be obliged to make any form of public comment on the misreporting that has taken place,” the man said in a statement issued by his law firm, Birnberg Peirce. He has not been officially named by police.

“The so-called China espionage activity in the UK is nonexistent,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a regular briefing in Beijing. “We urge the UK side to stop spreading false information and its anti-China political manipulation and malicious framing of China.”

(Updates with comment from Truss, other Tory MPs from 11th paragraph)

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