London, Mar 16 (FN Bureau) UK Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said on Tuesday that the United Kingdom wants to establish a “positive” relationship with China, but warned that his government will take a “calibrated” approach to the country and never stop standing up for values like democracy, open society and human rights. “Let´s face it, if we want to be a leader in the world, if we want to help bring the world together to tackle challenges like climate change of course we have to deal with China,” Raab told Sky News broadcaster.
The foreign secretary said that China is a growing economic power which the UK will continue to trade with, but stressed, however, that London will never do anything “that puts at risks our infrastructure, our telecommunications or anything like that.” “Of course, that requires us to take a calibrated approach to China, but we want a positive relationship where it’s possible. But we will never yield and we will never give up standing up for our values,” he said.
Raab recalled that as the head of the UK diplomacy, he has been raising at international forums issues such as the alleged human rights violations against Uighurs in the Chinese autonomous region of Xinjiang and Beijing’s breaches of the Sino-British Declaration that paves way for Hong Kong’s handover from UK to Chinese rule in 1997.