Britain and China must ‘stick together’ through the ‘ups and downs’ according to George Osborne. The Chancellor is currently touring China to drum up support for a ‘bridge’ with the City of London, as well as attempting to reassure the markets. On the Today programme, Osborne said he is pursuing a close relationship because it will create ‘jobs and investment in Britain’ — but he is not ignoring the human rights concerns either:
‘This is primarily an economic and financial dialogue but of course we’re two completely difficult political systems and we raise human rights issues but I don’t think it’s inconsistent to do more business with more than one fifth of the world’s population.’
The Chancellor explained that he believes it’s better to engage with China instead of heckling from the side lines:
‘China is an incredibly partner for us – not just when it comes to economic development and there are so many tens of thousands of British jobs that depend on our business with China. It’s also a very important partner in tackling things like climate change.
Of course, do we disagree about human rights? Yes we do. Does that mean we resile from our British values? Not at all. But isn’t it better to engage and talk about these things rather than stand on the side lines and try and conduct some kind of some megaphone diplomacy?’
Despite this optimistic talk, it’s hard to ignore the fact that the Chinese economy is not looking as solid as it once did. Osborne offered this ‘observation’ on the situation:
‘Both the problems in China – and if you like the decisions the Bank of England and the Federal Reserve in America re wrestling with – are both problems of success. In China, this economy has grown phenomenally and it’s moving now into a new stage of development which is more based around consumption and services — by the way that’s good for Britain — but that’s of course that’s a difficult transition. In the UK and in the US, because of our economies have been growing robustly, the central banks are thinking about what they’re going to do with interests and when they need to rise…but it’s essentially a challenge of success.’
And he also singled a coming shift in monetary policy:
‘The general signal coming from the Bank of England, coming from the Federal Reserve is that because the British and America economies have been growing robustly in the last couple of years the exit from very loose monetary is going to come.’
Osborne said he was representing the UK in his role as finance minister but he is also indulging in some statesmanship. While David Cameron (who he defended robustly) is dodging allegations from his past and Jeremy Corbyn is struggling to keep Labour on the straight and narrow, he is attempting to the voice of calm and security. Just the image he wants to project as the next leader of the Conservative party.
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