In an article for a propaganda mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, senior Tory life peer and former finance chief Philip Hammond argued that the UK-Sino economic ties should return to “business as usual”.
Update, February 20th 2023: Philip Hammond’s office contacted Breitbart London confirming that the former Chancellor of the Exchequer did not, in fact, write an article for the China Daily, as the newspaper originally claimed.
The propaganda mouthpiece actually took a speech given by Hammond, altered it, and passed it off as work authored for them to publish – actions Hammond’s office described as “frankly bizarre”.
While Hammond did call for a commitment that “UK-China trade will flourish in the post-Brexit future” and urge listeners to “join me in raising a glass to the UK-China economic partnership – may it grow stronger and more resilient in the Year of the Water Rabbit,” his remarks about a “return” to “business as usual” were disingenuously rephrased.
Hammond said in his speech that, “in the context of the damage wrought by the Covid pandemic”, it was “a fitting demonstration of the return to ‘business as usual’…. that we are meeting tonight in person” and not, as the China Daily had it, that it was “important for the United Kingdom and China to return to business as usual.”
China Daily, which is said to have apologised for fabricating the op-ed, has been contacted for comment.
Original article continues below:
Writing for the state-run China Daily newspaper on Wednesday, Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond argued that relations between the United Kingdom and the so-called Middle Kingdom should be mended for the sake of the alleged prosperity of global free trade.
In the now-deleted article, the top Tory wrote: “In the context of the damage wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, the changes brought about by Britain’s departure from the European Union and the further deterioration in global trade and economic productivity, it is important for the United Kingdom and China to return to business as usual.”
Hammond went on to say that while he was “slightly grated” by his predecessor as chancellor George Osbourne’s so-called “Golden Era” UK-China policy, he said that he was later “only too happy to endorse” it upon taking over the top finance job, saying that he hopes that he helped in “strengthening and deepening the reinvigorated relationship that he had started.”
The “Golden Era” agenda of Osbourne and his then boss former Prime Minister David Cameron saw imports from China to the UK soar from £35.5 billion in 2012 to £63.6 billion in 2021, representing 13.3 per cent of imports to Britain, with a £39.1 billion trade deficit.
During his tenure as finance chief for former Prime Minister Theresa May, Hammond also expressed support for the CCP’s debt-trap diplomacy scheme for global domination, the Belt and Road Initiative, saying at the time that he would lobby on behalf of Beijing for British firms, particularly in the fields of engineering and finance, to participate in the scheme.
Despite trade rising dramatically over the past decade, relations between China and Britain have soured in recent years, particularly over the blatant breaches of the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ guarantee of local autonomy promised to the former British colony of Hong Kong pledged to under the Sino-British Joint Declaration after the UK ceded control of the city to the communists in 1997.
In 2021, the British parliament, with the exception of members of Boris Johnson’s government, unanimously voted to declare the treatment of the Uyghur Muslims in the western concentration camp Chinese region of Xinjiang a genocide, enraging the regime in Beijing, which despite numerous accounts of torture, organ harvesting, rape, forced sterilisation, and slave labour within the camps from survivors, has maintained that they are merely re-education facilities.
In light of this, Hong Kong Watch Chairman Benedict Rogers slammed the former chancellor for his kowtowing article, saying: “Philip Hammond is the epitome of what Lenin once called a ‘useful idiot’. Never mind China Spy Balloon, never mind Uyghur Genocide, never mind dismantling of Hong Kong, never mind COVID-19 lies, Phil says let’s do business as usual with China. Nuts!”
Demonstrating the divide between the globalist faction of Hammond and the anti-communist wing of the Tory party, former Prime Minister Liz Truss said on Friday in her first speech since being unceremoniously removed from office that instead of seeking closer ties with China, the government should instead look to sanction the authoritarian state should it attempt to conquer Taiwan. Speaking from Tokyo, the former Tory leader said that the West must confront “the rise of a totalitarian China” as “the free world is in danger”.
Yet, it is unclear if the call from Truss will be headed, given the fact that the very people who conducted the coup to oust her from office, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and current Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt both have ties to China and have both argued in favour of closer relations with Beijing.
Indeed, Sunak’s government has reportedly begun back-channel discussions with CCP officials about possibly sending the first British government official to China since a trip from Boris Johnson’s trade minister in 2019.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.