Conservative MPs have warned of a parliamentary backlash following steps taken by the government to ease tensions with China, designed to pave the way for better trading relations.
Over the past few weeks, Boris Johnson has quietly signalled a thaw in frosty relations since the decision in 2020 to exclude Chinese telecoms giant Huawei from the UK’s 5G network.
His communications chief, Guto Harri, is a former spinner for Huawei, though his previous chief of staff, Dan Rosenfield, had also been an advocate of mending relations.
The prime minister has ordered a restart of the UK-China Joint Economic and Trade Commission [Jetco] and this year Rishi Sunak is understood to be on the verge of agreeing the return of annual trade summit, the 11th UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD), which has not been held since 2019.
“The Treasury cannot shake the orthodoxy that we must have better trading terms with China,” one senior source said. “But it is Downing Street who really wants this. Boris has always been uneasy about having to cancel Huawei.”
The EFD has previously been…
