China’s handling of the COVID 19 pandemic is causing the government of the United Kingdom (UK) to rethink the relationship between the two countries.
Believing that China may have reported a significantly lower number of infections than those officially given (scientists have reportedly advised the UK government that this may be to a ‘factor of 15 to 40 times’), senior members of the UK government have stated that a ‘reckoning’ will be necessary after the immediate crisis has passed, according to a media report in the UK.
This is accompanied by anger at China’s use of misinformation to manage the fallout from the pandemic, and its use of aid – ‘predatory offers of help’ – to turn the situation to its advantage. Shortages of health equipment in the UK (and elsewhere) were also believed to be linked to the requisitioning of stocks made in China and intended for export, as well as China’s purchase of stocks of equipment beyond its borders.
The anger, according to an unnamed source, ‘goes right to the top’.
A review of UK foreign policy has been stopped, and will be adjusted in light of the pandemic. ‘It is going to be back to the diplomatic drawing board after this. Rethink is an understatement,’ said another source.
Among the casualties of this reassessment could be the involvement of Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei in upgrading the UK’s infrastructure.
A member of the cabinet remarked: ‘We can’t stand by and allow the Chinese state’s desire for secrecy to ruin the world’s economy and then come back like nothing has happened. We’re allowing companies like Huawei not just into our economy, but to be a crucial part of our infrastructure.’
China’s involvement in infrastructure projects and global supply chains has long been a controversial issue for policy makers whose countries have an ambivalent or adversarial relationship with it.