Britain’s ambassador to China has been accused of ‘lobbying’ Cabinet Ministers on behalf of the Beijing regime.
Sources said that Dame Caroline Wilson, who was appointed to the critical diplomatic position last year, sends letters to Ministers attending secret meetings of the National Security Council (NSC) that ‘effectively argue for the appeasement of China’.
This move could put Dame Caroline in conflict with Liz Truss (foreign secretary), who is one of most China-hawkish Cabinet members.
When Ms Truss and Dame Caroline discussed China during Ms Truss’s previous job as International Trade Secretary, Dame Caroline asked why the UK didn’t adopt a more emollient approach to China, similar to how ‘we treat the French’.
Dame Caroline Wilson, Britain’s ambassador to China has been accused of ‘lobbying’ Cabinet Ministers on behalf of the Beijing regime
Ms Truss replied: ‘Because the French aren’t committing genocide.’ Beijing has faced international criticism for its persecution of minorities such as the Uighurs, including forced sterilisation and slave labour.
Ms Truss’s promotion to the Foreign Office was a provocative move by Boris Johnson – placing a Brexiteer and China-sceptic Minister into a bastion of pro-EU and Sinophile diplomats.
Dame Caroline’s career at the Foreign Office is straight from central casting. After private school and Cambridge University, she took a degree in European Community law at the Institute for European Studies of the Université Libre in Brussels – where she was later posted.
When she became ambassador she said that she would bring ‘a mature, positive UK-China relationship, in line with UK values’.
She is not labelled slavishly pro China by her allies. However, they point out that Beijing was angered when she supported the right to a free press.
Ms Truss has argued that Britain must not become ‘strategically dependent’ on China or submit to its ‘economic coercion’, saying she intends to build up alliances in the Indo-Pacific region to rein in Beijing.
Liz Truss, Foreign Secretary is welcome to. Ridwan Kamil (Governor of West Java), hosted a technology showcase in Bogor on November 12,
David Cameron, former Prime Minister, established the NSC in 2010. It is now the principal forum for discussing foreign policy, defense, international relations, development, resilience and security of resources.
The Cabinet Ministry includes Chancellor Rishi Sonak and Ms Truss. Other Ministers may attend when it is pertinent to their portfolios. Security threats to the UK from Russia and China are of paramount importance.
Last night, a Foreign Office spokesman said: ‘We don’t comment on leaks. Ultimately decisions at NSC are made by those Ministers attending, not officials.’ A source added that ‘letters from ambassadors updating on the situation in their post are sent to Ministers regularly’.