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U.K. Ambassador to China Sparks Uproar with Photo Believed to Promote Xi Jinping | Voice of America

 


The new British ambassador to China got off to a rough start after posting a photo on social media that some viewers interpreted as endorsement of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s tough policies.

Caroline Wilson, appointed in June to lead the British diplomatic mission in Beijing from this month, the photo posted on Twitter after meeting with Liu Xiaoming, Chinese envoy to Britain.

In the photo, Liu beams with apparent joy as the two hold up what appears to be a gifted book, the latest in a series of tomes exposing Xis’ thoughts on governance.

Wilson described the occasion on Twitter like a valuable meeting with @AmbLiuXiaoMing before heading to Beijing. His new subordinates at the British Embassy in Beijing later retweeted the post.

As of Friday morning, Wilsons’ tweet had generated more than 1,000 comments, and while a handful congratulated her as the perfect person for this absolutely essential role, the vast majority found the post very problematic.

Even Liu XiaoMing did not choose to upload this photo, a commentator wrote, although the Chinese envoy posted several more photos from the meeting. Many others shared the perspective of one writer who commented: How could she stand up for British values ​​while holding Xi Jinping Thought?

One of the more scathing comments was from a writer who uploaded a 1938 photo of then-British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain shaking hands with Adolf Hitler. Another writer said Wilson’s gesture was no different than holding Maos’ little red book.

A Tweeter who had generated nearly 500 likes on Friday filed a more serious charge, that Wilson is too keen to please Xi.

Response from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

A spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office defended Wilsons’ tweet, telling VOA their country had a policy of engagement with China and our approach will remain consistent even if difficulties arise.

We need to have a calibrated approach and use our engagement to raise issues on which the UK cannot agree or compromise with China, including on human rights and Hong Kong, said the spokesperson.

This argument is not convincing for Roger Garside, a former British diplomat whose latest book, Coming Alive: China after Mao, focuses on contemporary China.

As a former British diplomat myself, who served twice in Beijing, I am appalled by this behavior of our Ambassador-designate to the PRC, Garside wrote from London in response to VOA’s request for comment. It goes beyond anything I have seen from a British diplomat.

Garside summed up the reaction to Wilsons’ tweet as a flow of well-deserved outrage.

‘Hard look’

Clive Hamilton, professor of public ethics in Australia, also responded to a request for comment from his home in Canberra:

I think the foreign policy establishment is lagging behind [behind] the political change that has taken place in Britain this year. He hasn’t woken up yet [Communist Party of China]s ambitions and ruthless modus operandi.

Hamilton added: The danger is that instead of advocating British policy in Beijing, she ends up advocating Chinese policy in London.

Wilson has already drawn the attention of critics from the ruling Communist Party in China within his own party, said Hamilton, the author of Hidden hand, which warns that the Chinese Communist Party is determined to shape the world in its own image.

He said there had been no public criticism as far as I know, but I heard indirectly that some expressed their dismay in private.



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