Nigel Farage has said that China’s increasingly aggressive foreign policy stance since it let the Wuhan virus loose onto the world must force Prime Minister Boris Johnson to get tough on the communist country.
Leaked documents from the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that China had withheld vital information on coronavirus in the early days of the outbreak. While for a fortnight afterwards, China delayed sharing critical information to the WHO on human-to-human transmission, according to records obtained by the Associated Press and reported on Tuesday.
The latest report of a Chinese coverup of the deadly pandemic has handed the West more impetus to get tough on China. Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage, in particular, has been consistent in calling for the British government to take a stronger position on the communist state’s transgressions on the global stage.
Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald on Tuesday, Mr Farage noted that China had shown its “true colours” in recent weeks, with its increased aggression towards those who call for the eastern powerhouse to take responsibility for the spread of the virus. Last month in retaliation for Canberra calling for an independent investigation into the virus’s origins, China put an 80 per cent tariff on Australian barley.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also called for an international probe into origins of coronavirus. The calls were timed with several reports that the UK is planning to pull out of a deal for the all-but-state-owned Huawei to build 35 per cent of the UK’s 5G network, which intelligence allies warn represents a security risk. In response, Chinese state-owned media said that the UK would pay a “price” for expelling the tech firm.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has also threatened “countermeasures” after the UK offered to extend visa rights — resulting in a pathway to citizenship — for Hong Kongers in response to China’s parliament rubberstamping a ‘security’ law that would effectively crack down on democracy advocates in the city.
“The cat’s out of the bag, we now know what we’re dealing with,” Mr Farage told The Sydney Morning Herald.
“The truth of it is if we are really going to get tough with China and we want to try and hurt China’s ability to become this global superpower then we’re going to have to face the facts that in the short term this will cost us too,” the Brexiteer said, hinting that China might make good of its threats, likely compatible to the economic sanctions it levelled against Australia.
Amidst the intimidation, Mr Farage said: “It’s not something we can do that’s cost-free; it isn’t cost-free but, in terms of strategy, in terms of geopolitics, this is the biggest geopolitical struggle since the fall of the Berlin Wall 30 years ago.”
Mr Farage has already committed to boycotting “mass-produced Chinese rubbish” and urged fellow Britons to do the same.
After coronavirus exposed Britain’s reliance on China for medical equipment, the government said that would be exploring self-reliance from the communist state as well as looking to aid the growth of British tech companies to wean the UK’s telecommunications networks off of Huawei by 2023, with the company already imbedded in Vodaphone’s, EE’s, and Three’s infrastructure.
Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump, who takes a hard line on China, postponed the G7 summit, suggesting that he might instead host a “G11”. Comprised of the usual G7 members — the U.S., UK, Italy, Germany, France, Canada, and Japan — Russia, South Korea, India, and Australia may also be invited, signalling the American president is looking to bolster support in the zone surrounding the communist superpower.
The UK’s defence committee chairman Tobias Ellwood has also proposed the formation of an “Atlantic Charter 2.0” with the United States and Britain “leading the pursuit to design a new and defendable international architecture”.
“Its purpose would be to establish a fresh international framework to promote and defend human rights, democracy, and trade (including digital) in contrast to the closed model envisioned by Beijing,” Mr Ellwood said on Tuesday.
Mr Farage warned, however, that if Mr Johnson does not take this opportunity to stand up to the Communist tyrant, the Brexiteer is ready to return to frontline politics to campaign for Britain to do so instead.
“And of course if the Brexit Party does have to reactivate you can rest assured that China will be up there in one of the top two or three policies,” Mr Farage said. “With my base, the debate on China has started [but] it’s still got a long way to go.”