LONDON (Dispatches) -- Rishi Sunak on Sunday promised to get tough on China if he becomes Britain’s next prime minister, calling the Asian superpower the “number one threat” to domestic and global security.
The former finance minister’s pledge comes after his rival in the final two of the race to lead the ruling Conservative party, Liz Truss, accused him of being weak on China and Russia.
China’s state-run Global Times has previously said Sunak was the only candidate in the contest with “a clear and pragmatic view on developing UK-China ties”.
The Daily Mail, which has come out for Foreign Secretary Truss in the race to succeed Boris Johnson, called that “the endorsement that nobody wanted”.
Sunak’s proposals include the closure of all 30 Confucius Institutes in Britain, preventing the soft-power spread of Chinese influence through culture and language programs.
He also promised to “kick the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) out of our universities” by forcing higher education establishments to disclose foreign funding of more than £50,000 ($60,000) and reviewing research partnerships.
Britain’s domestic spy agency MI5 would be used to help combat alleged Chinese espionage, and he would look to build “NATO-style” cooperation to tackle what the West characterizes as Chinese threats in cyberspace.
He would also study the case for banning Chinese acquisitions of key British assets, including strategically sensitive tech firms.
Sunak claimed China was “stealing our technology and infiltrating our universities” and “propping up” Vladimir Putin abroad by buying Russian oil, as well as attempting to bully neighbors, including Taiwan.
He hit out at China’s global “belt and road” scheme, alleging it was “saddling developing countries with insurmountable debt”.
Sunak’s tough-talking will doubtless please China hawks in the Tory ranks, who have repeatedly pushed Johnson to stand up more to Beijing.
But it is also a sign of how Sunak is desperately trying to claw back ground on Truss, whom opinion polls have put well ahead in the crucial hunt for votes from the 200,000 grassroots Tory members.
A winner will be announced on September 5.
Truss has similarly urged a tougher approach, calling for the G7 to become an “economic NATO” against perceived Chinese threats and warned Beijing of sanctions if they did not play by international rules.