As Beijing-London relations become warmer, and visits by high-ranking officials resume, a prominent China-watcher has urged the United Kingdom to give serious consideration to further economic engagement with China now that it has leapfrogged tech rivals with the launch of DeepSeek’s artificial intelligence (AI) models.
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“The main factor now is a clear-sighted recognition in the UK that the economic situation is perilous, and that with China, there are clearly unexplored opportunities that we have to at least look at, even if we don’t take them,” said Kerry Brown, a professor of Chinese studies and director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College, London.
“China remains a minuscule investor in Britain, but with shocks like the success of DeepSeek, it is clear that Britain needs to think hard about the opportunity costs that engagement with China bring.”
Foreign Minister Wang Yi was scheduled to hold talks with British counterpart David Lammy in London on Thursday at the first UK-China Strategic Dialogue meeting since July 2018.
This follows the resumption of the UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue in Beijing last month, when British Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves and Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng reached deals worth £600 million (US$746.5 million) to Britain.
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Bilateral relations had been strained since 2018, with the previous British government criticising Beijing’s actions in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and Hong Kong. Ties cooled further amid the Covid-19 pandemic and the UK’s alignment with the United States and Australia in the Aukus security partnership.