The foreign minister set off with the aim of both ‘standing up for our values’ and securing profitable trade. He failed at both, says foreign policy commentator Simon Tisdall
Now Rishi Sunak, ambiguity personified, flaps around terminologically, skipping from challenger and competitor to rival and threat, always watching what the Americans say, visibly torn between the claims of security and commerce. The galling bottom line is that the government wants it both ways – to stand up for “British values” while trading profitably – and as a result fails to advance either objective.
This is hardly all his fault. The UK once had a reputation for skilled diplomacy: pragmatic, hard-headed, informed, clever, devious. But as its economic power and geopolitical leverage have diminished, along with the quality of decision-making, so too has traditional foreign policy realism. Now is the age of British foreign policy un-realism. Between fantasising post-Brexit Tories and the world as it truly is, a huge, growing gap yawns.The China conundrum perfectly illustrates this disconnect.
Cleverly stressed the need to engage with China on the climate crisis. Sure, but not at the expense of other issues. Why believe a country that is the world’s biggest carbon emitter, and that is approving the equivalent of, will take the slightest notice of British pressure? If China wants to cut carbon, it will, for its own hard-nosed reasons – not because that nice Mr Cleverly dropped in for a chat.
It’s not easy. But the difference is that they are following, roughly, an agreed plan: it’s called “de-risking” the relationship. They work together, or at least try. Together they can apply leverage.
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