During last week’s Commons debate on Xinjiang there was a curious mention of the environment. This was not some ham-fisted attempt to shoehorn in the fact that it was Earth Day, but rather a relevant warning to the British government that China could use the issue as leverage. Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who brought it up, argued that cooperation on climate change with China should not hold the British government back from criticising Beijing’s appalling human rights record. That is, the two issues should be treated separately, even if Chinese officials want to link them together.
Sir Iain is right. Britain should talk to China about human rights and climate change. After all, both issues are of the utmost importance to the UK. Moreover, as the Biden Administration has demonstrated, it is possible to cooperate and condemn, without needing to tone down the latter to facilitate the former. The United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry was clear in the run up to his visit to Shanghai last week: “Yes, we have big disagreements with China on some key issues, absolutely. But climate has to stand alone.”
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