'Your principal task is to lead, co-ordinate and inspire resistance to the multiple threats to our country from the government (not the people) of mainland China'

Richard Heller is an author and journalist. He was chief of staff to Denis Healey, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Shadow Foreign Secretary, from 1981 to 1983

Dear David,

Congratulations on your appointment as Shadow Foreign Secretary.

Your principal task is to lead, co-ordinate and inspire resistance to the multiple threats to our country from the government (not the people) of mainland China. You will have to show British voters that such resistance is necessary and convince them that Labour will conduct this better than Tory ministers or those of any other party.

That government is a totalitarian tyranny like no other, exercising unprecedented power to survey and control the daily lives of its people. It has made mainland China an electronic prison camp, with rewards for quiescent inmates and even more for “trusties” and instant punishment for “wrong” behaviours, “wrong” words, and even “wrong” thoughts. It is by some distance the world’s greatest abuser of human rights and its greatest user of forced labour. Its leader, Xi Jinping, is now the subject of an even greater personality cult than the predecessor he admires, the mass killer Mao Tse-Tung. He exercises the tyrant’s privilege of forcing his subjects to study all his banal words and demanding adulation and abasement not only from them but also from his creatures overseas.

His régime’s only priorities are the maintenance of its control over its people and the projection of its power abroad. The only international relationships it seeks, in politics, economics, trade, commerce and culture, are on its terms and in the service of its interests. It observes international treaties only when they work in its favour and otherwise ignores them at will, as over the crackdown in Hong Kong. Its initial response to coronavirus showed no regard to the welfare of its people, let alone the rest of the world’s, although it was quick to seize the chance it offered to take even more control over its citizens and extort even more homage overseas.

The régime simply does not recognize the concept of common interest with other countries (as further witnessed by its response to climate change). Everything it attempts outside its boundaries makes the world a worse place for our country, threatening our markets, our access to vital supplies, our cultural and moral influence overseas. If it achieves all of its designs, our country will live on sufferance, a jackal to the Chinese tiger. You will have to convince the British people to accept all the costs and risks, over a long period, of resisting such a fate. You could begin by reminding Brexit supporters that it is futile to take back control from our friends and neighbours only to surrender it to a distant enemy.

You will face resistance in your task from within our party. The sectarian Left will continue to blame Western capitalism for all the evil in the world and to give a free pass to all its enemies, however oppressive and vicious. They will denounce you for supporting a Cold War on (innocent) China. But you will also be opposed from the Centre and the Right, especially those with links to Big Business in pursuit of the often illusory short-term gains of relationships with China, or those who believe that they have personal insight into Chinese behaviour or even influence over it. Some still peddle the idea that trade, economic success and middle-class prosperity will inevitably generate a more progressive China. This theory did not work in Nazi Germany or apartheid South Africa, and there are no signs that it is working in communist China. Quite the contrary: the West’s desperate pursuit of Chinese business and investment simply encourages the régime to behave worse.

As a general rule, you should ignore any party figures who are regularly cited favourably in Chinese state-controlled media. You might well find it politically profitable to have a public row with them, especially the one who is still proud of the delightful tea party he attended with Xi Jinping three years ago, despite all that has happened since.[1]

Sources inside and outside the party will urge you to act responsibly in your new post, not only towards China but on other international issues. Ignore them. You do not have to behave diplomatically until you become the real Foreign Secretary. Enjoy and seize the opportunity to express Labour’s values and policies and let China and other powers make of them what they will. Liz Truss and her officials will brief you privately about the specific matters where the national interest might require you to be circumspect or silent. On everything else, it would actually benefit British diplomacy if foreign powers believed that you in waiting would be tougher to deal with than her in office.

You may like to consider some specific suggestions.

First, on Hong Kong, make the simple point that China’s actions make it impossible to believe in its adherence to any international agreement. Promise that under Labour Britain will be a sanctuary for victims of the crackdown, and press the government to correct the inexplicable anomaly that denies entry visas to Hong Kong people of the ages most likely to need them.

Second, make clear that Labour will oppose any Chinese attempt to compel by force changes in the status or policies of Taiwan and support any lawful and practical step to help Taiwan resist this.

Third, announce that it is Labour’s policy to assist any nation in the world seeking to reduce mainland Chinese influence over its affairs. Invite your former government colleague, Patricia Scotland, to develop more support through the Commonwealth for members in debt to mainland China, and to offer membership to new countries who meet standards of democracy and the rule of law.

Fourth, urge a boycott by officials and athletes of the forthcoming Winter Olympics in China. You might take over responsibility for international sporting issues in your brief. These have been riddled with international politics since the Nazi Olympics of 1936 and latterly with global commercial interests as well. They have become too important to leave to sporting bodies, even those which remain honest and principled.

Fifth, urge tougher immediate action against all products which make use of forced labour. Establish with front bench colleagues a team to prepare a plan for Britain’s progressive economic disengagement from mainland China, identifying all the short-term costs  and all the long-term opportunities from finding substitutes for mainland Chinese goods and services.

Sixth, as a former Universities minister you are well-placed to challenge the government’s weak resistance to mainland Chinese influence over British academic life. It delegated this task to UniversitiesUK, which produced vague general guidance, stuffed with managerial babble and with no specific mention of China. Remind all academic institutions that any knowledge or technology they share with a Chinese counterpart becomes the property of the Chinese régime. They will exploit it if it is useful to them, especially to their military and surveillance services, and subvert or suppress it if it is not.

Seventh, attack the government for its failure to carry out its promise in 2019 to introduce a Foreign Agents Registration Act on the model of the United States. Such a measure would not be specific to China, although it should expose many of China’s now hidden helpers. The American legislation lets the American people know everyone in their country who gets money to serve the political interests of any foreign state, including any company or other entity controlled by a foreign state, and any front organization for a foreign government. The British people deserve the same right.

Eighth, astonishingly, China is a member of the UN Special Committee on decolonization, which holds our country to account for its stewardship of the Falklands, Gibraltar and Pitcairn Island (population 48). The FCDO ignores this body, which has no influence, but you might like to call for China’s removal, and that of several other members who have no right to judge others and bring contempt on the UN, including Russia, Syria and Iran. It would give a good opportunity for propaganda against China’s and Russia’s latter-day versions of colonialism.

Ninth, do everything possible to decouple the mainland Chinese government and its officials from representing the rights and interests of people of Chinese origin living in our country and from influencing their public image.

Tenth, discourage Labour party members and affiliated organizations from entering relations, especially financial relations, with the mainland Chinese régime and the Chinese Communist party or any person or organization under their control. Discuss urgently with Andy Burnham the state of Greater Manchester’s relationship with mainland China, in particular how much Chinese investment it has attracted and what it would require to replace it. The Chinese do not invest in Greater Manchester, or anywhere else, from the goodness of their hearts. Find out what returns they are demanding for how long the region and its people will be indebted to them. You and Andy might care to ask the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, why he prefers Greater Manchester to borrow for infrastructure from the Chinese rather than from its own people through municipal bonds. Ask other Labour local bodies about any financial relations they have entered with mainland China.

If you do take this approach, or adopt any one of these policies, you can expect intense vilification from mainland China and all the people it controls, including of course, hordes of imaginary people on social media. Accept this as a mark that you are on the right track, and enjoy the new ratings that you and the party should achieve among the British people.

Yours sincerely,

Richard

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