Naming an alleged Chinese language spy linked to Prince Andrew has triggered a a lot wider row in regards to the UK’s relationship with China.
This authorities faces the identical query as its predecessors: how shut is it secure to get to the regime and at what value?
Sir Keir Starmer has already given clear alerts about his positioning, assembly with President Xi final month on the G20 summit.
It was the primary time a British prime minister has carried out so since 2018 and marked a thawing of relations.
And that is set to proceed with the Chancellor Rachel Reeves planning to go to in January for an financial summit, one other olive department that Quantity 10 has mentioned immediately will nonetheless go forward.
Politics newest: Beijing dismisses ‘groundless hypothesis’
It is clear the brand new authorities is taking a practical strategy, described as one in every of co-operation and engagement, however with room for problem on points similar to human rights and local weather change.
It is nonetheless rather more cautious than the pleasant David Cameron period, which included a memorable journey to the pub with the Chinese language president.
However regardless of this it’s nonetheless drawing criticism from long-standing China sceptics like Iain Duncan Smith, who has warned that the Yang Tengbo case is simply the “tip of the iceberg”.
What it does present in stark phrases is the benefit with which a Chinese language businessman obtained entry to the higher echelons of the British state.
It is now as much as the prime minister to determine if that ought to change his authorities’s new technique, and if he’s keen to take a success on commerce to guard nationwide safety.
