Disengaging with China not credible, says UK foreign secy

BEIJING, Aug 30 (BBC): Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has defended talks with Chinese officials in Beijing, telling the BBC it would not be "credible" to disengage. After meeting China's vice president, Mr Cleverly said the trip, the first by such a senior UK figure in five years, would help avoid "mistrust and errors".
But ahead of his visit, some UK MPs attacked the government's approach to China as "incoherent". In recent years, UK-China relations have deteriorated.
China is still the UK's fourth largest trading partner, but concerns over threats to civil liberties in the former British colony of Hong Kong, espionage by China in the UK, and China's support of Russia during the invasion of Ukraine have led to tensions between the two countries.
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Cleverly said his visit was an opportunity to speak "directly and unambiguously" on areas of disagreement and "work together where it is in our mutual interest to do so".
He said it would allow the UK to "re-establish lines of communication" and added that a lack of face-to-face engagement could lead to "more opportunities for perhaps misinterpretations, mistrust and errors".
"I'm realistic that one phone call, one visit, one meeting isn't going to fundamentally change the direction of travel," he said, but added that "patient, consistent and reliable communication could have an effect".