{"id":161618,"date":"2023-06-29T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-29T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mediaintel.asia\/?p=920578"},"modified":"2023-06-29T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-06-29T00:00:00","slug":"cleverly-defends-china-visit-plans-and-pledges-to-use-uks-global-influence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/2023\/06\/29\/cleverly-defends-china-visit-plans-and-pledges-to-use-uks-global-influence\/","title":{"rendered":"Cleverly defends China visit plans and pledges to use UK\u2019s global \u2018influence\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"MediaIntel.Asia\"<\/a><\/div>\n

F oreign Secretary James Cleverly has defended a possible trip to China as he argued that international reforms cannot happen without recognising Beijing\u2019s global financial influence.
\nMr Cleverly confirmed last week that he is \u201clooking at the options\u201d for a potential visit to China \u2013 the first by a UK foreign secretary since Jeremy Hunt went in 2018.
\nSpeaking on Thursday, the Cabinet minister said he believes the UK could exert \u201cinfluence\u201d over the Chinese Communist Party when it comes to international issues, as he vowed to address its human rights record and treatment of Hong Kong if he does make the trip to the Far East.
\nI very passionately believe that the UK has agency, we have a voice, we have influence, and we should try to utilise that
\nMr Cleverly, taking questions after a speech given to think tank Chatham House\u2019s London Conference, recalled a talk he gave at the Mansion House in April, where he said the UK needs to protect itself from China and build a strong network of allies while also engaging with the Asian superpower.
\nHe said: \u201cI very passionately believe that the UK has agency, we have a voice, we have influence and we should try to utilise that.
\n\u201cAnd that is best done through direct engagement.
\n\u201cSo the timing and the details of any trip that I might make to China are still yet to be decided.
\n\u201cBut, as and when I do go, I will of course talk about the issues that I raised in the past\u2026 their internal human rights activity, their attitude towards Hong Kong, concerns over the Taiwan strait, and others.\u201d
\nThe Foreign Secretary has argued against isolating China, despite wariness in the West \u2013 including among China hawks on the Conservative backbenches \u2013 over the country\u2019s growing assertiveness and refusal to criticise Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.
\nMr Cleverly, whose speech on Thursday focused on reforming multilateral partnerships, said he is aware that international reforms have to take into consideration China\u2019s financial links with developing nations.
\n\u201cOne of the things that I\u2019m very conscious about is how many smaller and poorer countries are very heavily indebted to China,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cAnd if I\u2019m going to drive the reform that I intend to drive in the multilateral system, China is a very significant and influential player in many of those institutions.
\n\u201cAnd therefore engaging with them is an important part of the agenda I\u2019ve set out in this speech.\u201d
\nThe senior Tory argued during his speech that, with the world currently \u201cliving through a turning point in the history of humanity\u201d, the make-up of the United Nations Security Council should change.
\nHe said there should be permanent African representation and membership for India, Brazil, Germany and Japan on the international panel.
\nThe Security Council currently has five permanent members \u2013 the UK, US, China, Russia and France \u2013 with 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year terms.
\nMr Cleverly also pressed for reform of the World Trade Organisation to reflect the \u201cdigital economy\u201d and said there needs to be a multilateral approach to regulation when it comes to emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI).
\nHe said the world is experiencing a \u201cperiod of dizzying and rapid economic, demographic, technological and social change\u201d and that broader coalitions are required to address those challenges.
\nAt the event on Thursday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky will be awarded the Chatham House Prize in recognition of his contribution to international relations.
\nHe is scheduled to make a short live address to the conference via video-link, with a special representative collecting the award on his behalf.
\nFollowing his speech, Mr Cleverly was asked about Russian President Vladimir Putin facing an internal rebellion by the mercenary Wagner Group at the weekend.
\nThe Foreign Secretary said the mutiny led by Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin was \u201cto a large extent an internal matter for Russia and Putin\u201d.
\n\u201cTheir frictions are up to them. The leadership of Russia is entirely and exclusively an issue for the Russian people,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cWe will not be distracted. Our commitment is to support Ukraine until they have recovered their sovereignty, and then help them rebuild and renew their country after the conflict, to provide them with the military and financial resources to do both of those things.
\n\u201cThat is the plan. We\u2019re not distracted by these events. We\u2019re sticking with the plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

This data comes from MediaIntel.Asia's Media Intelligence and Media Monitoring Platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

F oreign Secretary James Cleverly has defended a possible trip to China as he argued that international reforms cannot happen without recognising Beijing\u2019s global financial influence.
\nMr Cleverly confirmed last week that he is \u201clooking at the options\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":253,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1380,144,586,671,339,176,931,693,194,249,64],"tags":[8755,2636,3472,10321,7654,3571,5099,10315,2240,10413,3402,3549],"class_list":["post-161618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-china","category-economy","category-finance","category-hong-kong","category-human-rights","category-india","category-japan","category-news-chinese-law","category-russia","category-taiwan","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-brazil","tag-chinese","tag-communist","tag-france","tag-germany","tag-london","tag-media-intelligence","tag-military","tag-putin","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-nations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/253"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161618"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161622,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161618\/revisions\/161622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}