Former UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak launched a broadside against China on Monday, pledging to “face down” Beijing should he become Britain’s next prime minister. Beijing represents the “largest threat” to the UK and to global “security and prosperity” as a whole, Sunak claimed, announcing various anti-China steps he would take as premier.
The program to tackle the alleged Chinese “threat” includes closing “all 30 of China’s Confucius Institutes in the UK,” which are an instrument of Beijing’s “soft power,” the PM hopeful asserted. He also promised to ramp up intelligence activities to “counter Chinese industrial espionage.”
Other measures include creating a “new international alliance” bringing together unspecified “free nations” that would help “to tackle Chinese cyber-threats and share best practice in technology security.” On top of this, Sunak pledged to “protect key British assets” from Chinese takeovers. “That means examining the need to prevent Chinese acquisitions of key British assets, including strategically sensitive tech firms,” Sunak added.