李罡接受芬兰媒体Gbtimes采访 谈英国大选后中英关系的发展
Chinese eyes are on the UK’s pivotal election
The United Kingdom goes to the polls today in what is the most intriguing and complex general election in decades. It is being described as the most important for a generation for Brits, but there are ramifications and interests for other countries, too.
Foreign affairs have not been a major debate issue, and they rarely are in the UK, but there could be real impacts on the country’s relations with the outside world, including perhaps most significantly, China.
Britain, China and the EU
The crucial issue that China will be watching in this election, says Dr Li Gang, from the Institute of European Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, is the matter of the UK’s membership of the European Union. Li told gbtimes that Britain's EU membership and its influence in the EU is a crucial reason why China attaches so much importance to Sino-Britain relations.
The Conservative Party have pledged, should it win, to hold an ‘In/out’ referendum on membership by 2017. This means continued British EU membership is not assured, and any change would have a major bearing on Sino-British relations:
“Needless to say, as one of the world's major financial centers, London has the advantages of providing financing facilities for Chinese and foreign investments,” Li Gang says. “But the other main reason why Chinese and foreign enterprises landed in London one after the other is the UK’s EU membership, which is seen as an entry permit to the huge 500-million-population market by foreign investors.”
Furthermore, Li notes that as a major EU member country, Britain can play a positive role in the negotiations on the China-EU investment agreement and possible free trade agreement.
“Therefore,” Li continues, “Britain's EU membership and its influence in the EU is an important reason why China attaches so much importance to Sino-Britain relations”.
A ‘Brixit’, or the UK leaving the EU, would be damaging to UK-China relations. And yet, conversely, many of the eurosceptic members of the Conservative Party that contributed to Conservative leader David Cameron promising a referendum, have argued for stronger ties with rising powers such as China in place of EU membership.
Stability, actually
The matter of EU membership aside, UK-China relations are stable, although suffering from occasional flair-ups over Hong Kong and Mr Cameron welcoming the Dalai Lama in May 2012. This is thanks to a Sino-British comprehensive strategic partnership established over a decade ago.
“Through joint efforts, the most complete diplomatic mechanism on China-UK relations has been set up. The Sino-British relations have entered a phase of stable and sustained development. The fundamental direction of Sino-UK relations will not suffer reversal just because of a change of UK leadership,” Dr Li remarks.
“As for the election result, China respects the choice of the British voters. China hopes that the newly elected British Prime Minister respect China’s views on issues concerning China’s core interests, especially Tibet issue and human rights issues.”
Furthermore, Li underlines that the UK is now China’s second largest trade partner in the EU, the main source of China’s inbound investment and the main destination of Chinese overseas investment. Li states that economic and trade cooperation act as "ballast" and a "stabilizer" role in bilateral relations.
The election outcome, EU issues notwithstanding, should not change things. Li sees that the Conservative and Labour parties, one of which will likely form a ruling coalition in the coming weeks, as holding similar views on China – “that Britain should seize the opportunity to share the bonus of China’s development in order to reshape Britain's comparative advantages and expand Britain’s influence in the world.”
Chinese Participation
China also has an interest in following ethnic Chinese participating in the election, with some running to become Members of Parliament. Alan Mak, British-born and of Chinese-Malaysian decent, is seen as the most likely to enter the House of Commons, but there are another 10 candidates of Chinese origin.
Wang Wei, associate professor at the China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing, says that while the UK election is of most interest to intellectuals and academics, generally speaking, young urban Chinese are interested in the news that overseas Chinese run as candidates in the election of another country.
“Chinese would like to see their fellow countrymen and women exercising their talents in the international community,” Prof Wang says.
This is not just a point of fleeting intrigue, and may, Wang says, have some influence on China in the long run: “Most importantly, under the influence of overseas Chinese participations in political activities, the young generation’s political and social participation consciousness will be increased.”
He adds that should more ethnic Chinese candidates elected, this would be, “helpful for building the bridge for communications between China and the UK, which can deepen the British policymakers’ knowledge of China’s politics, culture and society.
“Meanwhile, for Chinese people and government, it will also promote a better understanding of the international community.”
The UK election is being fought on local issues, the National Health Service, the deficit, and, in the final straights, accusations of secret deals between the now more diverse pool of influential political parties. However, the interests in and ramifications of this election will be global, if sometimes subtle.
http://gbtimes.com/world/chinese-eyes-are-uks-pivotal-election
（联系 李罡：l-gang@cass.org.cn）