China and the Arms Trade Treaty
Yesterday, Monday 15th June 150 students visited the Foreign Office to start a week of action to support moves towards an Arms Trade Treaty. This matters to all of us, especially the next generation, including here in China.
The British Government strongly supports an arms trade treaty. We talk about it often with the Chinese Government, as it is a key actor in this, as in so many other debates. China and the UK both spend a lot on defence. We also both have arms industries. China has made many strong public commitments to non-proliferation and disarmament. This is the basis for a constructive conversation between us. On the Arms Trade Treaty, we are seeking to narrow our differences, and answer China's questions and concerns in multilateral negotiations.
I think there are three key reasons why an Arms Trade Treaty would be good for China , as well as good for the UK and others :
1. By establishing agreed criteria for assessing whether to export conventional arms, the Treaty will help to prevent proliferation to terrorists and insurgents.
2. China's commercial interests are expand ing rapidly and it is deploying more peacekeepers to more places. Preventing the irresponsible selling of arms will help to protect its own people overseas.
3. A treaty is also consistent with the development of a legitimate defence trade. Signing up to an Arms Trade Treaty would help countries develop a reputation as responsible arms exporters , giving them access to new markets.
An Open-Ended Working Group started work this year and is making progress towards treaty negotiations. We owe it t o our citizens to conclude a Treaty as soon as we can. We hope that we can work more closely with China on this, and come up with a practical solution that will bring benefits for all.
Posted at 12:03 16 June 2009 by Peter Wilson | Comments[0]
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Tomorrow will be the twentieth anniversary of the tragic events that took place in Beijing and across China in 1989. The British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, posted a blog on this today. Here is what he said: http://blogs.fco.gov.uk/roller/miliband/entry/tian_anmen
So far, there has been hardly a reference to the anniversary in the domestic Chinese media. The Foreign Correspondents' Club of China reports that restrictions on foreign journalists have been severely tightened. Full details from the FCCC are here:
www.fccchina.org <http://www.fccchina.org>
Peter
Posted at 10:11 03 June 2009 by Peter Wilson | Comments[1]
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William Ehrman, our Ambassador, gave a speech on 21 May at the China University of Political Science of Law in Beijing, on the role of politics and law in British society, and how it affects the relationship between China and the UK. The University is also the home of the China-EU Law School. I thought you might be interested to read the speech here. Thank you for your kind comment on the Foreign Secretary's Guardian article, John!
http://ukinchina.fco.gov.uk/en/newsroom/?view=Speech&id=18298769
Posted at 11:46 25 May 2009 by Peter Wilson | Comments[0]
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Beijing's two British Exhibitions
Norham Castle, by JMW Turner
Posted at 09:30 19 May 2009 by Peter Wilson | Comments[0]
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Foreign Secretary's interview on China's global power
The Foreign Secretary gave a significant interview in the Guardian today, that was posted on the web edition on Sunday night, to mark the first day of their Mandarin language edition, which starts today. You can see it in both Chinese and English at the web link below:
Posted at 09:32 18 May 2009 by Peter Wilson | Comments[1]
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First anniversary of the Wenchuan earthquake in China
Today Nick Whittingham, our Consul General in Chongqing, writes: A year has swept by and the world has changed. A financial crisis swept away the economic optimism of early 2008. Swine flu has supplanted bird flu as a global threat. But for the millions of people caught up in the tragic Sichuan Earthquake this news can feel trivial. They continue to harbour feelings of loss for those they lost and continued shock at the power of nature. How can current affairs matter when their lives was literally ripped apart at 2.28 p.m. on 12 May 2008? For them, the post-earthquake world has changed far less. Following the disaster, I entered the earthquake zone to track down missing British people. Memories of the massive landslides, ruined towns and injured refugees continue to evoke strong feelings. I still remember toys, furniture and shoes scattered in collapsed buildings - items whose owners were often buried beneath. When talking about a journey I made towards Yingxiu (near the epicentre), a lump of emotion can still thicken my voice. Nick Whittingham, in the Wenchuan earthquake zone, mid May 2008
When I remember the efforts of the rescue workers, I feel admiration. I remember sharing a bus with policemen leaving the disaster area after many days of rescue efforts, their faces exhausted and shocked by what they had seen. Many had bandaged limbs ? injuries sustained during their efforts to save others. I watched scores of soldiers distributing aid and shelter to survivors. And I saw young volunteers hitchhiking along the damaged roads in search of people to help. Other hitchhikers were people returning home, unsure who or what they would find. The names of towns I had never heard of one year ago now hold a special significance and are firmly etched in my memory. Beichuan, Dujiangyan, Mianzhu, Wenchuan - these are just some of the places that I associate with the tragic sights of one year ago. But I also associate them with the energy and fortitude of the survivors. During visits over the past year to some of these towns I have seen flimsy temporary shelters replaced by tents. These tents have then upgraded with prefabricated buildings. I have seen communities rebuild themselves, businesses emerge and people look to the future. One year has passed. The reconstruction effort has made great strides in that time. Survivors are rebuilding their lives. But today, at 2.28 p.m. on 12 May 2009, my thoughts will return to the owners of the toys, furniture and shoes who never emerged from their concrete tombs. Nick
Posted at 02:22 12 May 2009 by Peter Wilson | Comments[0]
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China's Yunnan Province, and long term co-operation with Edinburgh
Over China's Labour Day holiday last Friday, I got to see the fabulous botanical garden in Lijiang that was established by the Kunming Institute of Botany, with the Royal Botanical Garden of Edinburgh, in 1998. At 4000 acres, and covering a huge variation in altitude, it is the largest and highest alpine botanical garden in the world. It is also a high point (sorry) of Sino-British co-operation: a long term project that will benefit future generations in both countries and across the world. The area of Lijiang is host to more than 3,000 species of flowering plant. The garden alone contains perhaps 2,000. Many of Britain's flowering plants have historically come from Yunnan, and the province is one of the most varied zones for plant life in the world. That alone makes it exceptional. It is also beautiful - Jade Snow Mountain (Yulong Xue Shan), towering above the garden at well over 5,000 metres, is the name given to sixteen different peaks in the area. Below the garden lies the village that was home to famous botanists Joseph Rock and George Forrest early last century. The co-operation between Edinbugh and Kunming has been long standing, and painstaking. It has involved remarkable botanists from both sides, who are carefully cataloguing everything they can see in the garden, and actively transplanting species from other areas that will flourish there and be protected from increasingly rapid changes in the climate and local environments. It is a vital task, to preserve biodiversity on our planet. It is also a delicate one, because the immediate economic needs of a local people that remains poor often run contrary to longer term interests in preservation. Climate change has - within less than a twenty year period - has also had a clear and demonstrable effect on the area. My family went to Lijiang with my cousin and his wife, who both work in Shanghai. Ed had been to Lijiang before, nineteen years ago, when it was home to only 300,000 people, mostly from the Naxi minority. The area now houses 1.2 million, and there is much new building. It is still beautiful - and we were still keen to be one of the many tourists who now go. I hope we did not take too heavy a toll on the local environment, and that Kunming and Edinburgh get the support they need to carry out their vital work for many years to come. Ramona - thank you for your comment on my Guizhou entry! It was kind of you and the Foreign Affairs Office to take good care of me.
Posted at 06:47 05 May 2009 by Peter Wilson | Comments[0]
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I'm sitting in the airport waiting for the Beijing flight from Guiyang, capital of Guizhou. A slightly delayed flight is a good chance to blog!
It was the first time I've been for thirteen years. I wanted to look at the effects of the economic crisis on one of China's poorest provinces. But like so many cities in China, Guiyang is almost unrecognisable from before. Martin and Sue Wakeling, who do remarkable work for children with special needs in Guiyang, have lived through all this, since 1997, so have seen the change from up close. They mentioned ambitious hotel plans - and traffic jams!
Guizhou is landlocked. It has a population of 40 million, mostly rural. It has a lot of raw materials, including coal. It also has amazing natural scenery, and 60 ethnic minorities - mostly in the countryside - many of whom have preserved their varied local traditions.
But no one in this globalised world is immune from the economic crisis. Coal and electricity sales to other provinces are down. Enterprises have closed. Some migrants (Guizhou has perhaps 6 million working outside the province) have had to return home. I met a few of them - hard-working people living hard lives, who have made a big contribution to China's remarkable growth, particularly in recent years.
But the crisis is also seen as an opportunity here. Central government is investing large resources from its stimulus package. Local sources of funding should multiply that several times. Guizhou has been relatively poor partly because it is mountainous and remote - so it wants to build dramatically better road and rail links to coastal provinces, and within the province. In Guiyang there's construction everywhere.
Guizhou also has a big interest in pursuing a more sustainable model of development, that allows it to protect its natural environment, and promote sustainable tourism, for which it is well suited. It has been the pioneer of a 'circular economy' approach that is now national - a distinctive contribution to global concepts of sustainable development. It is determined not to forget this as it seeks to deliver more sustainable growth for its population.
I was here so briefly, and for work. But I'd like to come back with more of my own time. Even the airport is surrounded by the kind of dramatic hills that make you want to miss your flight, and start walking
Posted at 15:04 24 April 2009 by Peter Wilson | Comments[2]
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Working with China on counter-proliferation
North Korea's recent rocket firing has again put this subject firmly in the news here in Beijing, as well as elsewhere in the world. And Iran has been getting headlines even more recently, for all the wrong reasons. But underlying these two key cases is our broader approach to proliferation. We have been having a number of conversations with Chinese thinkers over recent weeks, to discuss our longer term goal - getting rid of nuclear weapons altogether. The UK approach is set out in an FCO paper, Lifting the Nuclear Shadow: Creating the Conditions for Abolishing Nuclear Weapons. We are transparent about our own deterrent, and how it works. We are ambitious for the Non Proliferation Treaty Revision Conference that will be held in 2010. And we set out some key questions for how to reach our ultimate goal. We should be aiming for a nuclear weapons free world. Thinkers in China see the global debate moving - in the UK and France, in the US, and in Russia too. There is also a long standing Chinese commitment to no first use. China's nuclear arsenal, like those of the UK and France, is relatively small, but increasing. China is making a welcome expansion to its nuclear civil power, which will help combat climate change - announcing this week that it will begin work on five new nuclear power stations. Thinkers here make some key points: - there is momentum in the international debate - and in order to make the bargain at the heart of the NPT work, the P5 need to show we are serious about disarmament; - the P5 should have a unified approach; - questions of nuclear posture, policy and confidence building measures all need to be on the table when we talk about weapons reduction. This debate is welcome. North Korea, and Iran, demonstrate the importance of this issue - and the need for longer term solutions, that will also provide a context for dealing with these immediate and pressing cases. We need to - and can - make progress.
Posted at 09:33 21 April 2009 by Peter Wilson | Comments[1]
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London Summit - China's Vice Premier Wang Qishan's view
China's Vice Premier Wang Qishan, who will attend the London Summit on 2 April with President Hu Jintao, wrote the following article in the Times, on Friday 27 March.
It is an important contribution to this meeting. And an indication of how closely China is working with us and the rest of the G20 to make progress at the Summit.
Posted at 08:36 30 March 2009 by Peter Wilson | Comments[0]
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The Foreign Office's annual human rights report comes out today. It includes material on China, where we have a number of concerns. We raise these regularly with the Chinese Government, at high level. We have both bilateral and EU dialogues on human rights. It is important that these work well.
Chinese leaders say that they want to see improvements in human rights. They also point out that social and economic rights have improved a great deal over the last thirty years. That is true - and China has lifted more people out of poverty in a shorter time than any other country in history. But it is also not the whole story. On civil and political rights, progress has been slow. A timetable for ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which China signed in 1998 , would be welcomed round the world.
We point this out not because we do not want China to succeed, or because we want to use this as a card to play in diplomacy, or a tool to keep China down. It's the opposite. We have an increasingly large stake in China's success. And as China changes so rapidly, it - and the relationship with us - matter more to people in the UK, not less. Better human rights contribute to long term stability. Universal values are not a Western invention, but something we are all signed up to through our membership of the UN.
Posted at 16:51 26 March 2009 by Peter Wilson | Comments[2]
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Scottish Cinema of Dreams in China
An unusual evening in Beijing - a small pine forest, recreated in the National Film Archive (to smell like Scotland), and two wonderful films with links to Scotland, to launch the Scottish Film Festival in China.
Tilda Swinton and Marc Cousins introduced the films. They were recreating, in this huge, urban environment, the same magic that they have built up in their local film festival begun round a kitchen table in the highlands of Scotland, which has now become quite famous. There was something magical about sitting on beanbags, at the end of a small Scottish forest, with trees and light projected onto the walls, and watching the most wonderful, simple film from the 40's, I Know Where I'm Going. It was a love story set on the lonely, romantic West Coast of Scotland, and a reminder of what is really important in life.
Also a reminder to this de-racinated Scot of what an amazing country it is - and how good it is to be part of the world's first multi-national state.
If you are interested in more, the British Council website has it on www.britishcouncil.org.cn/sff For more on Scotland, try www.scotland.cn
Posted at 03:58 23 March 2009 by Peter Wilson | Comments[1]
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Duncan Sparkes, our Economics Counsellor, has just been in Shanghai, to talk at the China Europe International Business School about the forthcoming London Summit. He kindly agreed to do a guest spot on my blog. Duncan writes...
We are now in the final run-up to the London Summit on 2 April. China’s leadership has been engaging impressively with us, and it clearly wants the Summit to be a success. Three UK ministers have visited Beijing since the start of the year, and they have been received at the highest levels.
Earlier this week, we took part in an event on the London Summit at the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai, whose programmes the Financial Times ranks in the global Top 25. After explaining our ambitions for what we want the London Summit to achieve, I offered some suggestions how China itself could contribute to ending the economic crisis and paving the way for a durable recovery.
First, as Premier Wen Jiabao himself has stated, China’s main contribution to the world economy is to manage its own economy well. So we welcome the economic stimulus measures announced in recent months, and China’s determination to achieve 8% growth this year.
Secondly, I argued that China should continue to resist taking any protectionist trade and currency responses to the crisis. As one of the world’s leading exporters, China understands that international trade and globalisation bring great benefits, which we must not allow the crisis to reverse.
Thirdly, I suggested that the crisis had underlined the need for China to re-balance its economy, away from exports and investment and towards domestic consumption. An economy more reliant on consumption would generate more jobs, use less resources, and make it easier to achieve President Hu Jintao’s goal of a harmonious society.
Finally, I hoped that China would engage actively in the reform of the international financial institutions, to equip them to play a more effective role, with a reformed mandate and representative governance arrangements.
The ensuing panel discussion and debate with the academic staff and students was lively and provocative. Many speakers argued that the crisis had been caused by excessive borrowing and extravagant consumption by western economies, coupled with inadequate financial sector regulation. The budget and current account deficits of the United States attracted particular criticism, given the dollar’s role as the main international reserve currency. But I was reassured that, despite the crisis, most speakers recognised that globalisation had benefited China and spoke out against protectionism. And they argued that financial sector deregulation and innovation, if properly supervised, were good for the economy and should continue in China.
Read more about the outreach event at: http://www.ceibs.edu/media/archive/37784.shtml
Duncan Sparkes
Posted at 01:29 18 March 2009 by Peter Wilson | Comments[0]
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Everyone can see that the conversation between these two great powers has become a more public one. Premier Wen's comments on Chinese investment in the US last Friday, at his press conference following the National People's Congress, sparked a quick reaction from President Obama, who said "not just the Chinese Government but every investor can have absolute confidence in the soundness of investments in the United States". Foreign Minister Yang was in Washington last week. Both sides sent clear signals about their desire for a strong, stable relationship. The two Presidents will meet for the first time at the London Summit. Three main things struck me in the US this time: a) optimism: this is a bad economic crisis. But there is an abiding faith in the US economy's ability to innovate, and more attention now being paid to international efforts to do the same thing. There was no interest in Government circles in playing a blame game, even when talking about global imbalances - people want to work together globally to pull the world into recovery. b) pragmatism: all those I talked to used this word to describe Adminstration policies towards global issues. People are focussed on what works. On 4 March, Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a rare address to Congress. He spoke about the economic crisis, and what needed to be done at the London Summit on 2 April: the Congressmen applauding his speech came from both sides of the aisle. c) expertise: in one block on Massachusetts Avenue, it is possible to see ten people inside of three hours, all of whom have a strong expertise in China policy, many of whom have served in recent Administrations. All of them are experts, most of them are policy makers. The openness of the US system, its ability to come up with new ideas, and the level of its expertise on China are quite remarkable. I will not forget walking into one Congressional office and hearing two US staffers (admittedly for my benefit) talking to each other in fluent Mandarin. Hard to think of other legislatures round the world where this is possible, outside China. I went to New York too. We have a big interest in increasing our co-operation with China at the UN. We do a lot of work together on the P5. We are stepping it up. Thank you for your comments. Cyril - you are right to prompt me - sorry to be such a jetlagged blogger. Alan, I agree with you that the blogosphere in China is not free. But it is freer than other forms of communication here, growing fast, and says some surprising things. The trend is clear, but the consequences are not. Your continued opinions on this are very welcome. Surat - I may be in a minority on this, and I don't have a settled view, but at the moment I am less worried about cyber-nationalism than some of my Chinese friends. This weekend's publication of a nationalist tract called Zhongguo Bu Gaoxing (China's Not Happy) shows clearly that nationalism cuts both ways - just as it does in the rest of the world.
Posted at 09:08 16 March 2009 by Peter Wilson | Comments[0]
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I'm going to Washington and New York next week. The Sino-American relationship has been described by strategists on both sides as the most important bilateral relationship in the world. I want to understand it better from the US side. Now is a good time to go. One of the things that I want to talk about is growth of the internet in China. With more than 300 million people on line, China is now the most wired nation in the world - it passed the US last year, and since I started writing this blog. Over 40 million people have blogs of their own. This has a powerful effect on public opinion. As the rest of the world wants to know more about China, it is really interesting to learn more about what some people think. I also want to learn more about US public opinion on China, and how it is changing. Happy to take your ideas on this with me, so do post them, from wherever you are. If you'd rather post them in Chinese, it is easier to visit my Chinese blog, www.vipwilson.sina.com .
Posted at 08:08 27 February 2009 by Peter Wilson | Comments[4]
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