‘Much misperception’: China’s ambassador to UK urges ‘candid dialogue’ to repair trust

Zheng Zeguang also calls for two sides to step up communication on trade and investment, the pandemic and climate change
Envoy’s remarks come weeks after he was blocked from entering British parliament amid tensions over Hong Kong and Xinjiang

China-UK relations

Sarah Zhengin Beijing

Published: 5:00pm, 29 Sep 2021

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China’s new ambassador to Britain called for “candid” communication to fix the lack of trust between the nations, weeks after he was barred from the country’s parliament amid strained relations over Beijing’s actions in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.

In a virtual address on Tuesday, Zheng Zeguang said while there had been “some setbacks” in the relationship in recent years, both sides needed to step up communication and coordination on areas such as trade and investment, Covid-19 and climate change to narrow their differences.

“China and the UK have different views on certain issues,” he said. “That is nothing to be afraid of. The key is to keep the door to communication open and engage in candid dialogue on the basis of equality and mutual respect. Only in this way can we narrow differences, expand consensus and build up mutual trust.”

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Britain sanctions Chinese officials over Xinjiang alongside US, EU and Canada

Zheng – who assumed the ambassadorship in June – has called for a reset in relations between the countries. Tensions have been high over Beijing’s imposition of a national security law in Hong Kong last June that prompted Britain to offer a pathway to citizenship to British National (Overseas) passport holders in the former British colony. Britain also joined the United States and the European Union to sanction Chinese officials in March over alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang, to which Beijing responded with reciprocal sanctions. And this month, Britain joined the US and Australia in a trilateral military partnership in the Indo-Pacific region, which Beijing warned would increase risks of an arms race and a new cold war.

Zheng had been scheduled to speak at a summer reception at the British parliament in mid-September, but the event was later cancelled over Chinese sanctions on British lawmakers. The Chinese embassy in London denounced the move as the “despicable and cowardly action of certain individuals of the UK parliament to obstruct normal exchanges and cooperation between China and the UK for personal political gains”.

China’s ambassador was due to speak at the British parliament earlier this month but the event was cancelled over Chinese sanctions on lawmakers. Photo: EPA-EFE

On Tuesday, Zheng said at an online reception celebrating the October 1 anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, that Beijing did not see Britain as an “adversary or a threat”.

“In the past three months since I arrived in London, I have met with many British friends from different circles,” he said. “They agree that there is a deficit in mutual understanding between our countries. There is much misperception and not enough trust.”

He added that there was a “deep reservoir of goodwill” between the people in China and Britain, but that he hoped the British public could approach China by “transcending ideological barriers and rejecting the misperception that China is a ‘systemic competitor’ or even a threat”.

In his remarks before more than 600 guests, including members of the House of Lords and House of Commons, Zheng also referenced the latest wave of Chinese nationalism over the end to the US extradition request for Meng Wanzhou – daughter of Huawei’s founder – that allowed her to return home to China.

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