Protocol posed a severe headache for Britain’s first envoy to China, Lord Macartney, during his visit to Beijing in 1793.
Under strict orders to maintain dignity, Macartney refused to perform the ceremonial kowtow before the China’s Qianlong Emperor. This alone did not scupper his mission, but it certainly didn't help increase trade. Macartney returned home empty-handed.
A subsequent letter from the Emperor to King George III ended by telling the “barbarian” British monarch to “tremblingly obey and show no negligence”.
Britain’s latest dignitaries to Beijing, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and London Mayor Boris Johnson, were quite a bit more anxious not to commit any faux pas during their October visit.
After 220 years China now stands as the workshop of the world and its second-largest economy, while middle-ranked, cash-strapped Britain hungers for investment. There was no doubt that Osborne and Johnson were the supplicants who dared not show negligence during their tour of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangdong and Hong Kong, to drum up business.
At a joint session with students at Peking University on October 14, the two competed to flatter their hosts.
When Osborne mentioned that his 10-year-old daughter was learning Mandarin, Johnson went one better: “I have a 16-year-old and she is not only learning Mandarin, George, she’s coming here next week to pursue her studies.” Osborne dubbed their double act “the yin and the yang.” Johnson said they were “a nest of singing birds… It’s total harmony.”
The London mayor beguiles Chinese with his mop of unkempt blonde hair and line in gentle banter. At Peking University, he played up the importance of London for Harry Potter, and aiming straight for fluttering female hearts, citing the young magician's first love. “Who is the first person he kisses? That’s right, Cho Chang – who is a Chinese overseas student at Hogwarts School.”
A troublesome fact-checker pointed out that in the J.K. Rowling books, Cho Chang is not described as a Chinese overseas student, and later marries a ‘Muggle,’ someone without any magical blood or ability. Fortunately for Johnson, adoring Chinese failed to notice.
Human rights and corruption in China were definitely not on the agenda.
Prime minister David Cameron’s meeting last year with the Dalai Lama had sparked fury in China, which cancelled all high-level meetings with the UK government. “There will be no more meetings with the Dalai Lama,” Osborne assured a reporter pursuing him in a Beijing street.
Building business ties
Both men hope that showing respect for China would deliver the sort of benefits that Macartney failed to achieve 220 years before. Already there are some encouraging signs.
Osborne kicked off his five-day China tour by announcing an £800 million (US$1.3 billion) investment by Beijing Construction Engineering Group in redeveloping Manchester Airport. Art-loving Chinese property developer Ni Zhaoxing also unveiled in October a £500 million plan to rebuild the Crystal Palace that burned down in London in 1936, as a “jewel in the crown for Britain and the world”.
This came on top of a £1 billion deal in May by another Chinese developer to build an ‘Asian business port' near London City Airport.
Osborne was also keen to boost London’s standing as a renminbi hub. Chinese banks would find it easier to open wholesale branches in London, he boasted, although Bank of England governor Mark Carney later stressed this did not amount to a regulatory free ride. Direct renminbi-sterling trading will be allowed in Shanghai and offshore, with the possibility of renminbi clearing in London. Visa rules will also be relaxed to encourage more Chinese tourists and business travellers to visit the UK.
The most headline-grabbing deal is for two state-owned Chinese companies to make an investment of between 30% and 40% in a £16 billion nuclear power station in southwest England, to be built by EDF, the French state-owned energy company.
EDF said in a statement that this would give China General Nuclear Corp. and China National Nuclear Corp. “the opportunity to gain experience in the UK and will support their long-term objective of becoming nuclear developers in the UK.” EDF did not reply to an Asiamoney request for clarification.
British newspapers were quick to lament how the UK had gone from being a pioneer in nuclear energy in the 1950s to depending on foreign ownership and technology, and to highlight safety concerns about the Chinese involvement. Remarkably, there was barely a murmur of political dissent at the national security implications.
Britain’s digital network already depends on technology supplied by Huawei, a company started by a former officer in the People’s Liberation Army, Ren Zhengfei, and now the world’s biggest maker of telecommunications equipment.
Huawei’s bid to enter the US market in 2008 was thwarted by a committee of Congress. Last year, a panel of British members of parliament warned of the risk that China might be able ‘to intercept covertly or disrupt traffic passing through Huawei-supplied networks.’ Major general Jonathan Shaw said Britain was “dealing with the devil” in allowing Huawei access to its electronic infrastructure.
Feting another UK investment by Huawei, for a new £125 million research and development centre, Osborne met with chief executive Ren Zhengfei at the company’s Shenzhen headquarters.
Osborne brushed aside security concerns. “There are some Western governments that have blocked Huawei from making investments. Not Britain. Quite the opposite,” he said.
After 220 years, Britain’s envoys are increasingly willing to obey China. The Qianlong Emperor would be pleased.