Britain’s dilemma, a central Asian scramble, and Ukraine drifts east
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ROUND UP THE USUAL SUSPECTS
On July 9, Britain mustered 21 friendly countries from the 47-member Media Freedom Coalition to issue a joint statement protesting the media crackdown in Hong Kong. They were “highly concerned,” so it wasn’t exactly megaphone diplomacy. The main interest here is the numbers: only 16 signed up last time, when the coalition complained about China’s persecution of Zhang Zhan, a citizen journalist who challenged the government’s narratives about the Covid-19 pandemic. This time Japan and Italy were notable newcomers, which is good. But still none of the coalition’s African or Latin American members took part — a reminder of how Chinese influence prevails outside core Western countries.
Warnings abound in London: Ken McCallum, director of MI5 (Britain’s security service), says hostile states (Russia and China) now rival terrorism as a domestic threat. And a stinging new report from MPs on the foreign affairs committee highlights the danger of lax scrutiny of foreign investment in sensitive industries.
But Britain still wants it both ways. Following finance minister Rishi Sunak’s call for “nuance,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson is caricaturing critics of Chinese money as “pitchfork”-wielding naysayers. (More on the contentious sale to China of Britain’s biggest maker of semiconductors here).