Themes: Chinese and British narratives and memories of imperialism, war, and colonialism; the impact of these narratives on current Anglo-Chinese political and economic relationships.
Concise commentary on complex issues from different points of view.
The UKNCC Guest Contributor Programme offers contrasting ‘short, sharp reads’ for those seeking a fuller exploration of key questions. This issue explores:
“To what extent do the UK and China share a common narrative about their shared history?”
Authors, alphabetically by surname:
- Prof. Kerry Brown, Programme Director, Lau China Institute, King’s College London
- Prof. Rana Mitter, Chair in US-Asia Relations, Harvard Kennedy School
- Dr. WANG Huiyao, Founder and President of the Center for China and Globalization (CCG), Former Counsellor to the China State Council
Contact us at:
perspective.ukncc@pm.me
To what extent do the UK and China share a common narrative of their shared history?
Prof. Kerry Brown Director of Lau China Institute, King’s College
October 2024
The UK National Committee on China (UKNCC) Guest Contributor Programme highlights contrasting responses, by leading authors, to key questions posed by the UKNCC. The programme is designed to stimulate a deeper exploration of China related issues; drive curiosity; and test conventional wisdom.
Contact us at:
perspective.ukncc@pm.me
Response 1 of 3
The British and Chinese have many cultural differences. But one thing they have in common is a liking for stories. At the time of the 400th celebration marking the death of Shakespeare in 2016, the then serving Chinese ambassador in Britain Liu Xiaoming paid tribute to Shakespeare’s work and its vast historic influence. In particular, he praised the timeless quality of his storytelling and his dramaturgy. Shakespeare’s works are well known in China. Previous Chinese leaders like former Premier Wen Jiabao even visited Stratford on Avon, the Bard’s birthplace, during an official tour of the UK in 2011. Shakespeare’s work has been available in Chinese versions at least since Tian Han made a rendition of Hamlet in 1922.
What is more striking however is that former Ambassador Liu made his remarks at an event marking the linkage between the great British writer and his almost exact contemporary in China, Tang Xianzu. It is telling that Tang, the author of classics such as The Peony Pavilion, while considered one of China’s greatest writers, has nothing like the kind of profile in Britain Shakespeare does in China.
This situation is highly symptomatic of the fact that on the whole, at least in recent decades, there has been a knowledge imbalance. Chinese largely know more about Britain, and have thought more about their relationship with Britain than the other way around. More significantly, they do not just possess the knowledge, but a narrative for that relationship.
Granted, this narrative is not a very flattering one for the British, and on many points it might be contested. It posits Britain as one of the chief colonisers and imperialist abusers over the 19th century. This was a key moment in modern China’s history, a period when it undertook the painful economic and political transition from its long dynastic history to an era of social, material and cultural reform and transformation that went on for almost a hundred years. The stress of that period is a major focus of `patriotic education’ campaigns, undertaken in Chinese schools. There, Britain figures in the century of China’s humiliation. British people in China do not need to look very hard to find their role in this humiliation memorialised and commemorated.
The Chinese narrative about them is more often than not staring them in the face.
Contemporary British, however, do not have a counternarrative of their own about what China means to them. This is strange. The two countries, in their various mutating guises over the last four centuries or so, have had an almost continuous relationship. They are not strangers to each other. From the early 17th century, indeed, through the East India Company – and the trade links it forged – through the famous Macartney Embassy to the Qing Chinese court in 1793-4, on to the infamous so called `Opium Wars’ from 1839 to 1860, Britain and China maintained a constant link.
Much more came from their interaction with each other than the suffering and trauma of war and conflict. Chinese tea made its way to Britain at least from 1660, and became both the national drink, and, a century later, the source of a huge amount of government revenue through customs imposed on it.
China introduced Britain to the technology of porcelain manufacturing, well before Wedgewood and Spode anglicised porcelain, building their businesses on it. British people loved Chinese spices and silk, and embraced, through the 18th century, the aesthetics of Chinese garden design. The “order and beauty through disorder and chaos” ethos of Chinese parks, and the vast amount of flowers brought from the Far East into Britain, reshaped the material landscape of Britain.
In the other direction, too, Britain had a profound influence on China. This was the key relationship that put the ancient, remote (at least to Europeans) culture of Imperial China directly in contact with the new processes and ideas that constituted the industrial revolution which Britain was pioneering. The encounter between Britain and China over this time has been described by some as perhaps the epitome of a ‘clash of civilisations’. The China that emerged from this encounter in the 20th century was a very different China to the one with whom Britain had engaged a century or so before.
Today, China gives rise to complex problems for the British, raising questions about how best to engage with a partner who is both crucial in certain areas – the economy and in tackling transnational issues like combating global warming – and yet so fundamentally different and often antithetical in others. The shared bilateral history offers at least some clues into how we might want to navigate this complex relationship.
Today, China gives rise to complex problems for the British, raising questions about how best to engage with a partner who is both crucial in certain areas – the economy and in tackling transnational issues like combating global warming – and yet so fundamentally different and often antithetical in others. The shared bilateral history offers at least some clues into how we might want to navigate this complex relationship.
instability in a key area of the world. What Britain sought was balance. At the peak of its influence in China, at the end of the 19th century, Britain primarily viewed the country as a source of material gain, not a state where it desired to impose its values and require conversion.
Finally, there needs to be recognition that for almost all of this history, up to present times, in the economic, technological, geopolitical and military arenas, Britain has been the stronger player. The great transformation today is that, at least since the 2000s, the situation has changed. In all these areas, China is either equal to, or ahead, of Britain.
This situation at the very least demands that the British update their mindset, and re-evaluate the tone and approach they take towards China today. We are no longer dealing with a power that can be treated as beholden or in deficit to us.
Britain does not need to create a China story for itself. It already has one. It simply has not invested the time and effort into clearly articulating and internalising this story. China still figures as somehow marginal, unfamiliar, and remote. As a tangible sign of this, in 2023 there were fewer British graduates in Chinese studies (about 265) than there had been a decade before.
It is remarkable that at a time when China has become a globally consequential economic and geopolitical actor, so many British public figures in media and politics talk about it in a way more suitable to half a century ago. The narrative most days in much discourse is either of the country being a human rights disaster zone or a source of unimaginable riches. We need something more nuanced, complex and realistic. And understanding our shared history with China and its depth, longevity and complexity is a good way to achieve that.
About the Author
Kerry Brown is Professor of Chinese Studies and Director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College, London. He is an Associate of the Asia Pacific Programme at Chatham House, London, an adjunct of the Australia New Zealand School of Government in Melbourne, and the co-editor of the Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, run from the German Institute for Global Affairs in Hamburg. He is President-Elect of the Kent Archaeological Society and an Affiliate of the Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit at Cambridge University.
From 2012 to 2015, he was Professor of Chinese Politics and Director of the China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, Australia. Prior to this he worked at Chatham House from 2006 to 2012, as Senior Fellow and then Head of the Asia Programme. From 1998 to 2005 he worked at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as First Secretary at the British Embassy in Beijing, and then as Head of the Indonesia, Philippine and East Timor Section. He lived in the Inner Mongolia region of China from 1994 to 1996.
Kerry has a Master of Arts from Cambridge University, a Post Graduate Diploma in Mandarin Chinese (Distinction) from Thames Valley University, London, and a PhD in Chinese politics and language from Leeds University. Kerry directed the Europe China Research and Advice Network (ECRAN) giving policy advice to the European External Action Service between 2011 and 2014. He is the author of almost 20 books on modern Chinese politics, and has written for every major international news outlet, and been interviewed by every major news channel on issues relating to contemporary China.
Kerry Brown is author of The Great Reversal: Britain, China and the 400-Year Contest for Power (2024) published by Yale University Press. In his book, Brown shows how interactions between the UK and China changed the world order– and argues that an understanding of Britain’s relationship with China is now more vital than ever.
About the UKNCC
We help leaders make better decisions on China by providing Educational Programmes & Pathfinder Dialogues.
In an era witnessing a rise of misinformation, polarising politics and divisive media, the decisionmaking context on matters related to China is extremely complex.
Since the end of the ‘Golden Era‘, the discourse on China in the U.K. has become dominated by hawks, apologists, and special interest groups pursuing narrow agendas.
Recognising that there was a market failure in the U.K. in fostering a national China-facing capability, the UKNCC was established in 2020.
Today, UKNCC is Britain’s leading independent educational non-profit on China. As a community interest company (CIC), UKNCC is also Britain’s only China-focused organisation that is prohibited from lobbying under U.K. law.
Disclaimer:
The views expressed in the UKNCC Guest Contributor Programme are of each author and do not
represent those of UKNCC as an organisation or of any individual associated with it.
Copyright © 2024 UK National Committee on China CIC (Company number 13040199) All Rights Reserved.
Follow UKNCC on Twitter:
@UkCommittee
Or Linkedin at:
linkedin.com/company/ukcommittee
To what extent do the UK and China share a common narrative of their shared history?
Prof. Rana Mitter ST Lee Chair, Harvard Kennedy School
October 2024
The UK National Committee on China (UKNCC) Guest Contributor Programme highlights contrasting responses, by leading authors, to key questions posed by the UKNCC. The programme is designed to stimulate a deeper exploration of China related issues; drive curiosity; and test conventional wisdom.
Contact us at:
perspective.ukncc@pm.me
Response 2 of 3
Britain and China – a shared history?
The relationship between Britain and China is a very long-standing one. Those who want to read about it in detail should consult Kerry Brown’s excellent new book The Great Reversal, in which he talks about the shift in power between Britain’s dominant role in China in the 19th century, and China’s prominent role in the 21st, or the work of Robert Bickers, who has meticulously unpicked the complex strands of British empire in China. Yet it’s also a history that seems to have few shared elements. In China, much of the relevance that Britain has had in shaping Chinese history is tied to acts of imperial violence such as the first Opium War (1839-42). In Britain, in contrast, Chinese history is low-key. It used to be essentially absent, although twentieth-century history has made a more prominent appearance in recent years in the school curriculum for GCSE. But little of the history that is taught in British schools relates specifically to BritishChinese relations. Why is there so little convergence between the British and the Chinese worlds when it comes to history? Essentially, it is because each side wishes to take something very different from what seems to be a shared story.
I’ll illustrate with a reflection on two key areas of Anglo-Chinese encounter: the Second World War, and the history of Hong Kong.
One episode in history that both sides shared, yet which is rarely mentioned, is the Second World War. China fought essentially alone between the Japanese invasion of 1937 and the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. But even during this period, the two sides had mutual interests. Hong Kong was a vital gateway for supplies through to wartime China, and British finance helped keep the conflict going. On the other hand, continued Chinese resistance brought real benefits to Britain. Had China surrendered early on in the war, as some observers feared it might do, there would have been little leeway for Britain to maintain any significant political or diplomatic presence in a China that would have essentially been a Japanese colony by another name.
From December 1941, China became a formal ally of the US and the British Empire, yet the country is rarely remembered as a wartime partner. Besides, this partnership was not always smooth. One of Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek’s first acts as an allied leader was to visit India in 1942 and visit the nationalist leaders Gandhi and Nehru.
While his intention (unsuccessful in the end) was to persuade them to back the Allied war effort, Chiang’s presence there infuriated Winston Churchill, who had little faith in either the Indians or the Chinese. Even at this early stage, the narrative of unity between Britain and China concealed real differences.
In 2025, the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II will be marked in Asia and Europe. It may be that there are some nonagenarian veterans who will still be there to mark that brief moment of cooperation. Yet judging by previous anniversaries, there may be few areas of mutual historical contact. For Britain, the story of World War II remains one of liberation from Nazism; the Asian story is harder to place in the narrative of freedom, not least as many of the former European colonies, including Malaya and Hong Kong, returned to British rule immediately after the war. For China, meanwhile, there is little mileage in the idea of the war as a war for democracy. Instead, it is seen as a moment when China finally gained international status (as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, with Britain),
and was able to restore domestic order after years of invasion and turmoil. The story is also made more complex since China’s wartime leader was Chiang Kai-shek, later defeated by Mao Zedong in the civil war. While Chiang’s memory has been partly rehabilitated in China, it is still awkward to give him too much credit for wartime victory. Finally, in the 2020s, there is an added complication. Russia has taken on the framework of World War II to try and argue that its invasion of Ukraine is somehow a repetition of its fight against Nazism in 1941. While China has not endorsed this narrative, it remains close to Russia – and Britain and China therefore sit on very different sides of the contemporary narrative of World War II’s significance. Hong Kong is perhaps the issue on which there is the most acknowledged shared history, and also the most contentious elements of disagreement.
The period from the 1970s to the late 2010s marks a near half-century in which the outgoing British administration and the incoming Chinese one shared, by default, an agreement to reshape Hong Kong according to a globally anomalous template: that the territory should be free, but not fully democratic. During the 1970s, many of the phenomena
that shaped modern Hong Kong became evident, notably under the governorship of Murray Maclehose from 1971 to 1982. The era saw many of the developments that would shape the city, including the building of the MTR transit system and the establishment of large areas of parkland. Maclehose, famously, did not increase the democratic mandate in Hong Kong, a task that was left to his successor Edward Youde, and which was heavily criticised by China with an accusation that Britain was democratising only when it was halfway out of the door.
But the Maclehose era developed a Hong Kong that could take advantage of wider changes in the global financial system, as currencies were liberalised and markets transformed by new technology. It was an era when data became freer, but could only be used to full effect by a better-educated, more international community. Both expats and Hong Kongers became, overall, richer, but they also became more free, as universities and the press thrived. In some ways, this echoed what seemed to be changing
in mainland China: before 1989, after all, there were many signs that Deng’s China was liberalising its public sphere without adding many democratic mechanisms to the Chinese system. The fifty years that span the handover mark a remarkable – perhaps globally unique – example of how, for a time, the last major colony run by a democracy and an authoritarian party-state with some willingness to allow an autonomous public sphere could create a level of continuity in governance.
The Hong Kong National Security Law of 2020 has changed the balance, making direct political dissent against the Chinese Communist Party in the territory much harder than it was before that date. While Hong Kong, overall, still has more freedoms than the mainland, there is no doubt that the division between the two eras pre- and post-2020 is clear. In that sense, 2020 marks the end of a British-Chinese unspoken consensus that keeping Hong Kong free, if only fitfully democratic, was a key priority: for the British, as a token that they would not forget and for China as a sign that “one country two systems” had real significance. In the present day, in contrast, the two narratives have diverged heavily in the past four years: there is little sign of a shared concept of what AngloChinese shared history means in Hong Kong.
Does it matter that the two sides seem so underpowered in an understanding of their mutual history? It does, if only because where real history is absent, mythmaking tends to fill the space. The relationship between Britain and China has always been important, but like all histories, it contains anomalies and complexities that make shared perceptions harder to identify. It is worth noting what historians seek to do when they examine the past. The aim is not to seek agreement, or consensus: rather it is to apply the most rigorous analysis of data possible to provide the material for a never-ending frank, detailed and complex debate about the meaning of the past. A shared history does not mean an agreed history: the latter is the realm of ideologues, not of historians.
About the Author
Rana Mitter is ST Lee Chair in USAsia Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School. He is the author of several books, including Forgotten Ally: China’s World War II (2013) which won the 2014 RUSI/Duke of Westminster’s Medal for Military Literature, and was named a Book of the Year in the Financial Times and Economist. His latest book is China’s Good War: How World War II is Shaping a New Nationalism (Harvard, 2020).
His writing on contemporary China has appeared recently in Foreign Affairs, the Harvard Business Review, The Spectator, The Critic, and The Guardian. He has commented regularly on China in media and forums around the world, including the World Economic Forum.
His recent documentary on contemporary Chinese politics “Meanwhile in Beijing” is available on BBC Sounds. He is co-author, with Sophia Gaston, of the report “Conceptualizing a UK-China Engagement Strategy” (British Foreign Policy Group, 2020). He won the 2020 Medlicott Medal for Service to History, awarded by the UK Historical Association. He previously taught at Oxford, and is a Fellow of the British Academy.
About the UKNCC
We help leaders make better decisions on China by providing Educational Programmes & Pathfinder Dialogues.
In an era witnessing a rise of misinformation, polarising politics and divisive media, the decisionmaking context on matters related to China is extremely complex.
Since the end of the ‘Golden Era‘ , the discourse on China in the U.K. has become dominated by hawks, apologists, and special interest groups pursuing narrow agendas.
Recognising that there was a market failure in the U.K. in fostering a national China-facing capability, the UKNCC was established in 2020.
Today, UKNCC is Britain’s leading independent educational non-profit on China. As a community interest company (CIC), UKNCC is also Britain’s only China-focused organisation that is prohibited from lobbying under U.K. law.
Disclaimer:
The views expressed in the UKNCC Guest Contributor Programme are of each author and do not
represent those of UKNCC as an organisation or of any individual associated with it.
Copyright © 2024 UK National Committee on China CIC (Company number 13040199) All Rights Reserved.
Follow UKNCC on Twitter:
@UkCommittee
Or Linkedin at:
linkedin.com/company/ukcommittee
To what extent do the UK and China share a common narrative of their shared history?
Dr. Henry Wang Huiyao Founder and President of Centre for China and Globalization, Former Counsellor to the China State Council
October 2024
The UK National Committee on China (UKNCC) Guest Contributor Programme highlights contrasting responses, by leading authors, to key questions posed by the UKNCC. The programme is designed to stimulate a deeper exploration of China related issues; drive curiosity; and test conventional wisdom.
Contact us at:
perspective.ukncc@pm.me
Response 3 of 3
UK and China: Diverging Historical Narratives, Converging Futures
China and the UK have distinct narratives about their shared history. The UK’s perspective is marked by deep respect for China’s ancient civilization and dramatic historical journey, while the Chinese view offers a nuanced understanding of British imperialism’s impact, recognizing both adversarial elements and valuable contributions to modernization. These narratives converge in acknowledging the profound influence each country has had on the other, from commercial exchanges to educational and cultural contributions. Looking ahead, the UK and China have many opportunities for collaboration in a number of key areas. Both countries should adopt fresh perspectives and develop new narratives about each other. By comparing these viewpoints, we can learn valuable lessons from the complexities of past interactions, which will foster a deeper understanding of the historical context that shaped current relations and help to guide more informed and cooperative future engagements.
Divergent Narratives and Subjective Historical Perspectives
For the UK, China’s story is extraordinarily rich and dramatic. Michael Wood, one of the UK’s leading historians, regards China as the world’s oldest living civilization. However, he believes that its history remains surprisingly unknown to much of the wider world. John Keay’s comprehensive narrative history of China spans from the earliest times to the present day, offering a comprehensive examination of the country’s vast and intricate past. His approach is refreshingly free of Eurocentric bias, focusing instead on the unique aspects of Chinese history and its interactions with neighbouring cultures and civilizations. Meanwhile, Lawrence James’s The Lion and the Dragon also offers a captivating exploration of the intricate and often tumultuous relationship between Britain and China, recognizing the significant role Britain played in the awakening of China and shedding light on the various ways in which British influence and intervention impacted the country during the 19th and early 20th centuries. This includes Britain’s involvement in key historical events such as the Opium Wars, the Treaty of Nanking, and the opening of Chinese ports to foreign trade. But, the most significant British contribution to provide analysis of Chinese history came from Dr Joseph Needham.
His over thirty volumes published by The Cambridge University Press are titled Science and Civilisation in China. The contents had a profound impact in China and around the world providing compelling evidence of millennia of innovation and invention by Chinese people. Dr Needham had a life long friendship with former Premier Zhou Enlai that resulted in all the Needham volumes being translated into Chinese. In the obituary of Needham, in The Independent newspaper in March 1995, this is the opening sentence: “With the death of Joseph Needham the world of learning has lost one of the greatest scholars in this or any country, of this or any century” Needham is perhaps rather better known in China than he is in the UK. The reason is that Chinese people can readily grasp the immense impact this British scholar has had in providing crucial insights into the past in China.
To the Chinese, the UK has been both an enemy and a teacher. As an enemy, the British Empire’s actions in the 19th century were seen as cruel and invasive. The Chinese view British violence and aggression as the starting point of the “Century of Humiliation.” This period of historical suffering is etched deeply into the Chinese national consciousness, serving as a reminder of the country’s past vulnerabilities and the necessity of its present strength and unity.
Professor Julia Lovell of Birkbeck College in London provided deep insights in 2011 of the reality of the horrors imposed on China by British actions in her book called The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of China. She reveals how the catalyst for the British General Election in 1857 was the Palmerston Government losing a motion of confidence on the issue of the devastation to Chinese people of the UK exporting opium into China. The Palmerston Government won the election with an increased majority. The British people may have long forgotten this election outcome – but Chinese people have clear memories of the humiliation and horror of the outcome it caused in China. However, as a teacher, the UK has made significant contributions to humanity such as the modern democratic system, the concept of a market economy, and large-scale industrial production. It can be said that the UK launched a new era in human history and played a key role in early promotion of globalization. Another nod to the UK was that modern China participated in both World Wars, clearly aligning with the UK on both occasions.
A Shared Future: The UK and China
Despite the challenges of the past halfcentury, a growing number of people from both the UK and China recognise that their bilateral relations have weathered many storms, achieved remarkable progress, and delivered tangible benefits to the citizens of both nations, contributing to global peace and prosperity. The UK was the first Western power to recognise the People’s Republic of China, to initiate trade with it, to apply to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), to issue sovereign bonds in RMB, to appoint a special envoy for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and to sign the BRI Financing Guidance Principles. China, in turn, was the first to establish a comprehensive strategic partnership with the UK among European countries, issue RMB sovereign bonds and central bank notes in London, and help London become the world’s largest offshore RMB trading centre.
In 1972, China-UK trade was just $300 million, with nearly zero bilateral investment and only about 100 Chinese students in the UK. Today, bilateral trade has exceeded $100 billion, mutual investment has grown to $50 billion, and there are over 200,000 Chinese students in the UK. Over 200 million people in China are learning English, showing the important impact of British culture. Furthermore, the UK has launched a global AI summit, and China is eager to strengthen cooperation with the UK in this area. Strategically, both China and the UK are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, which allows them to play a more significant role in coordinating efforts and promoting resolutions in international governance, such as the IsraeliPalestinian conflict.
Another important point is that while Hong Kong was under British rule for nearly a century, it played a significant role in China’s process of reform and opening up. Hong Kong established rule of law, advocated for a market economy, and became an important financial centre. As China gradually opened up in the 1980s, Shenzhen looked to Hong Kong, and the whole country looked to Shenzhen, which greatly propelled China’s development. This included reforms in real estate, like the pre-sale of properties, which we learned from Hong Kong and along with other practices acted a bridgehead for reform and opening up such as “three forms of processing and compensation trade” and material processing. Hong Kong benefited greatly from British traditions, which were particularly important.
The UK still has plenty to contribute to multilateralism. Despite leaving the EU, it can still play an important role in multilateral engagements. For instance, by joining the CPTPP, the UK has enhanced its interactions with China and helped ease tensions between China and the West. Given the UK’s pioneering role in globalization and China’s current inclination towards globalization, there are ample opportunities to enrich multilateral cooperation. The UK’s “Global Britain” vision aligns well with this direction, and with the Labour Party now in power, the prospects for collaboration are even greater. President Xi Jinping’s recent phone conversation with the new British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, highlights his strong interest in deepening engagement with the UK.
Admittedly, China-UK relations have faced challenges recently, becoming strained, stagnant, and even at risk of deteriorating. The UK has outlined its China policy around three principles: competition, challenge, and cooperation, echoing the US’s “threepoint strategy” towards China. However, this perspective does not reflect a constructive understanding of China-UK relations.
It’s important for both sides to recognize that China and the UK have no fundamental geopolitical conflicts or unresolved historical issues, meaning there are no inherent clashes of interest. What’s truly needed is greater dialogue and thoughtful exchange to cultivate meaningful international discourse. British governments have historically demonstrated wisdom, and today, as China advances in new industrialization and economic development, it creates fresh opportunities for the world, including the UK. British leaders have shown insight in the past, but now, they must also show the courage to embrace these emerging opportunities. China and the UK can collaborate in several key areas that hold significant potential for mutual benefit and global impact. By working together in these key areas, China and the UK can overcome existing tensions and forge a future based on shared goals and mutual prosperity.
Both nations can work together to promote the benefits of globalization by advocating for open trade, investment, and knowledge exchange across borders. The UK, with its long history of global trade and diplomacy, and China, with its rapidly growing economic influence, are well-positioned to lead efforts in ensuring that globalization is not only a tool for economic growth but also a force for social and cultural integration. China and the UK have significant potential to collaborate in efforts to ease geopolitical tensions on a global scale. The UK, with its strong diplomatic ties to both the United States and the European Union, could act as a mediator in improving China-US relations and China-EU relations. Beyond their bilateral influence, China and the UK can extend their cooperative efforts to conflict zones such as RussiaUkraine and Israel-Palestine. Together, they can encourage diplomatic dialogue, humanitarian aid, and peaceful negotiations, while utilizing their roles in international organizations like the United Nations to advocate for peace and stability.
Leveraging the UK’s leadership in AI research and development, coupled with China’s rapid advancements in technology and vast data resources, both countries can forge strong partnerships in artificial intelligence. By collaborating on AI initiatives, they can drive innovation, improve efficiency across various industries, and address global challenges such as healthcare, climate change, and cybersecurity. The UK and China can work together to establish ethical standards and regulatory frameworks that ensure AI technologies are developed and deployed responsibly, with a focus on enhancing human well-being.
Collaboration in nuclear energy offers the UK and China a unique opportunity to provide sustainable solutions to global energy needs, contributing significantly to the fight against climate change. The UK’s expertise in nuclear technology and regulatory practices, combined with China’s large-scale production capabilities and commitment to expanding its nuclear power infrastructure, can lead to the development of safer, more efficient, and more affordable nuclear energy solutions.
By aligning the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with the UK’s “Global Britain” vision, both countries can create new opportunities for infrastructure development and economic growth worldwide. The BRI, China’s global infrastructure project, aims to enhance connectivity and cooperation among countries along its routes, while the UK’s “Global Britain” strategy seeks to expand the country’s influence and trade relationships beyond Europe. Together, these initiatives can complement each other, with the UK bringing its financial expertise, legal frameworks, and global network, and China providing the investment and construction capabilities.
Expanding student exchange programs between the UK and China will foster mutual understanding and strengthen the cultural ties between the two nations. These exchanges can help break down stereotypes, promote cross-cultural communication, and cultivate a generation of global citizens who are better equipped to navigate an increasingly interconnected world.
Joint efforts to reform the World Trade Organization (WTO) can help ensure fairer trade practices and a more equitable global trading system. The UK and China, as major global economies, have a shared interest in maintaining a stable and predictable international trade environment. By working together to address the challenges facing the WTO, such as resolving disputes more effectively, updating trade rules to reflect the realities of the modern economy, and ensuring that the benefits of trade are more widely shared, the UK and China can help restore confidence in the multilateral trading system.
As global leaders, the UK and China can collaborate on climate action, leading the way in reducing emissions and promoting sustainable practices. Both countries have made significant commitments to combat climate change, with the UK aiming to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 and China pledging to peak its carbon emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. By joining forces, the UK and China can share best practices, develop new technologies, and implement largescale projects that contribute to global climate goals. Working together to support the Global South will enhance development efforts and promote a more balanced and inclusive global economy. The Global South, which includes many developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, faces significant challenges in achieving sustainable development and reducing poverty. The UK and China, with their extensive resources and expertise, can collaborate on initiatives that address these challenges, such as infrastructure development, access to education and healthcare, and capacity building.
In relations between China and the UK, narratives of shared history have often been subjective and multifaceted. The UK views China’s history with admiration and fascination for its rich and dramatic past, while the Chinese perspective is more nuanced, acknowledging both the adversarial and educational roles that the UK has played. This duality mirrors the broader historical relationship between the two nations, marked by periods of conflict and cooperation, which continue to influence their interactions today. Understanding this shared history is crucial in appreciating the current dynamics and future prospects of UK-China relations. By learning from the past, both countries can build a more informed and cooperative future, benefiting themselves and the global community. As British biologist Thomas Huxley once said, “The great end of life is not knowledge but action.” By finding the right positioning, seizing the present, and taking action, we can honour the past, adapt to the times, and shape the future, which will write a new chapter in ChinaUK relations.
About the Author
Dr. Henry Huiyao WANG is the Founder and President of Centre for China and Globalization (CCG), a leading Chinese nongovernmental think tank, a former Counsellor to the State Council of China appointed by the Chinese premier. In addition, he serves as Vice Chairman of China Association for International Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce; Vice Chairman of China Talent Research Society under the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security; a Director of Chinese People’s Institute of Foreign Affairs and China National Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation, and Vice Chairman of China Public Relations Association.
About the UKNCC
We help leaders make better decisions on China by providing Educational Programmes & Pathfinder Dialogues.
In an era witnessing a rise of misinformation, polarising politics and divisive media, the decisionmaking context on matters related to China is extremely complex.
Since the end of the ‘Golden Era‘ , the discourse on China in the U.K. has become dominated by hawks, apologists, and special interest groups pursuing narrow agendas.
Recognising that there was a market failure in the U.K. in fostering a national China-facing capability, the UKNCC was established in 2020.
Today, UKNCC is Britain’s leading independent educational non-profit on China. As a community interest company (CIC), UKNCC is also Britain’s only China-focused organisation that is prohibited from lobbying under U.K. law.
Disclaimer:
The views expressed in the UKNCC Guest Contributor Programme are of each author and do not
represent those of UKNCC as an organisation or of any individual associated with it.
Copyright © 2024 UK National Committee on China CIC (Company number 13040199) All Rights Reserved.
Follow UKNCC on Twitter:
@UkCommittee
Or Linkedin at:
linkedin.com/company/ukcommittee
Company Directors:
Frank Slevin (Chairman)
Ollie Shiell (CEO)
Andrew Cainey
Dr. Winnie King
Advisory Board:
Sir Malcolm Rifkind KCMG QC (Chairman)
Angelica Anton
Sir Victor Blank
Sir Andrew Cahn KCMG
Ellie Chadwick
Rahul Sinha
Sir Tim Smit KBE
Benjamin Speyer
Kui Man Gerry Yeung OBE
Contact us at:
