UK: Rishi Sunak dubs China 'global security threat'; vows to 'get tough' if elected as PM

As the campaign for the UK Prime Ministerial position gets into more nitty-gritty, former British Chancellor of Exchequer (Finance Minister) Rishi Sunak on Sunday described China as the "number one threat to global security." The UK PM leadership contender said he will introduce curbs on China to restrain Beijing's "soft power." Threatening the already frayed ties with Beijing, Sunak further added he will shut down 30 Confucius Institutes in the UK, which promote Chinese culture and language.

Conservative leader, Rishi Sunak's promise was in line with the claims that the institutes were more of propaganda tools rather than education and cultural centers. Sunak hopes his step would tackle the issue of illegal immigrants, which has intensified in the past couple of weeks. As quoted by Sky News, Sunak said China was "stealing our technology and infiltrating our universities." He added Beijing was "propping up (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's fascist invasion of Ukraine", meanwhile, bullying Taiwan and curtailing civil liberties in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. He claimed China was rigging the global economy for their benefit by suppressing their currency.

Sunak's 'anti-China' policies

As the battle to rise above continues in the UK PM race, Sunak on Sunday expanded his campaign, saying that he would amend the Higher Education Bill in order to track the source of foreign funding partnerships in national universities. This, he said, will be a push back against Beijing's "technological aggression," adding that he would expand MI5's reach to counter allegedly calibrated Chinese industrial espionage, Sky News reported. Seconding views of MI5 and FBI chiefs, the popular Tory leader asserted China poses the "biggest long-term threat to Britain and the world's economic and national security."

In an apparent mention of the Sri Lankan fiscal crisis, Sunak accused Beijing of "saddling developing countries with insurmountable debts and using this to seize their assets it holds a diplomatic gun to their heads." He went on to accuse former UK leaderships of having turned blind eye to China's iniquitous ambitions.

China hopes to improve ties with new UK PM

As the 1,60,000 Tory Party members are set to vote for its new leadership and UK PM to succeed Boris Johnson, most candidates held tough rhetoric over Beijing, except Rishi Sunak, who had "pragmatic views" on enhancing China-UK relations, said a Global Times report on July 14. However, experts like Wang Yiwei (director of the Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University, China) predicted that the new PM could possibly mean a "backswing" of London towards China, but it will not return to the "golden era" that was substantially built over time.

(Image: AP)