The End of a Wonderful Friendship and the Beginning of Trade Woes
China and the U.K. tried to be pals. That didn’t last. Now Beijing is seizing on the economic vulnerabilities arising from Brexit to press its advantage, just as it’s doing with Australia.
China's President Xi Jinping (left) and Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron share a pint at a pub near Chequers, the prime minister’s country residence northwest of London, in 2015.
Photographer: Getty ImagesWhen Xi Jinping visited London in 2015, aside from enjoying fish and chips and a beer at the pub with then-Prime Minister David Cameron, the Chinese president addressed a joint sitting of Parliament. Speaking in the Royal Gallery behind the House of Lords, he invoked Shakespeare’s The Tempest, telling lawmakers “what’s past is prologue.”
The visit was a roaring success. A Scottish wool cape was given to Xi’s wife, Peng Liyuan; its fit had been calculated using data technology to measure her size off public photos. The Duchess of Cambridge wore a scarlet dress to the state banquet honoring Xi, with the Chinese press cooing over her choice of “Chinese red.” Cameron declared the trip evidence of a “golden era of ties” between the countries. It was a stunning turnaround for a relationship that had sunk into a diplomatic freeze just a few years earlier when Cameron met with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.