Britain must put China and US in toughest tier of its new foreign influence scheme, report finds
Britain has been advised to put the US and China in the toughest tier of its foreign influence scheme, as revealed in a new report.
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The UK should also engage with Beijing economically "even if this prompts retaliation" from the White House, the paper published by the Chatham House foreign affairs think tank said.
Sir Keir Starmer’s Government has had a lukewarm relationship with China amid concerns about the country's interference in Britain.
However, Beijing has been spared from the most stringent requirements of the UK’s new Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (Firs), which would see anyone working for the state to declare influence activities in Britain.
As it stands, China is in the lower tier of the scheme which requires the declaration of "political" activity alone, while Iran and Russia have been placed in the higher "enhanced" tier covering a wider range of activities.
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In its report, Chatham House called for both the US and Beijing to be placed in the enhanced tier "as part of a wider move to build UK resilience to great power influence".
"Including both China and the US on the enhanced tier of Firs need not entail casting them as threats, and should be considered in terms of a policy of adapting the UK to a world of great power competition," report author William Matthews said.
"Inclusion of the US could offset the risk of antagonising China, though China would still likely respond angrily, and would almost certainly provoke an angry response from the US.
"However, in the long-term it would be better for this to happen now if the UK seeks to maintain an autonomous foreign policy in its own interests, rather than at a future point when… risks are amplified due to intensifying US-China competition, which would make it harder to diverge from Washington where interests do not align."
In its recommendations, it has advised the UK to not take sides in the rivalry between the US and China and be prepared to take a different approach to Washington on Beijing.
It added the UK cannot avoid economic engagement with China because of the country's dominance of supply chains for critical raw minerals, electric vehicles and green power.
A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said: "This Government is taking a consistent, long-term and strategic approach to managing the UK’s relations with China, rooted in UK and global interests. We will cooperate where we can, compete where we need to and challenge where we must.
"This includes supporting UK business to engage with the second largest economy in the world – one of our largest trading partners – while being open-eyed to any risks and ensuring security and resilience."