What the spy saga reveals about UK-China relations

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Good morning.Thank you so much for your kind email and overwhelming recognition Bear. Another recurring refrain is “But how much of this spy story actually is there?” matter, Politically? ” Here are some thoughts on the latter.

Spy as you please

Here is a consolidated version of the email many of you sent me yesterday:

While I understand why this story is politically difficult for Rishi Sunak, it’s just much ado about nothing, isn’t it? Of course, there are also senior spies working for the Chinese government in Westminster.I hope us There are spies in China!how should Does this really shape the fundamentals of Chinese policy?

The answer is, yes and no. I agree, and frankly it raises serious questions about the UK government. Do If Britain doesn’t have spies in China, the reverse is also true.

In many ways, these accusations – which the researchers involved deny – have been made already Reflecting broader changes in UK policy towards China. In some states, if you caught one of their spies, you quietly told their government to relocate them. And then in other states, you have a big publicity and arrests.

And “all that happened” was that China moved from the first group of countries to the second group. But that’s a pretty big “all,” given the inevitable consequences of this arrest, as Lucy Fisher, Yuan Yang, and John Paul Rathbone detail in this excellent article That would further require greater distance between Britain and China.

On the broader topic of China, I’m very much looking forward to tuning in to our next subscriber webinar tomorrow at 12:30pm on China’s economic slowdown and what that means for China and the world. Register here!

Now try this

This week, I’m mainly listening to Stevie Nicks’ “Edge of Seventeen” while writing my column.

Today’s headlines

• wage growth | UK wages continued to grow at the fastest pace on record in the three months to July despite a weak job market, rising unemployment and slowing hiring, official data showed. Annual growth in average wages (excluding bonuses) remained at 7.8%, the highest rate since comparable records began in 2001.

• social mobility | Britain’s younger generations face worse dangers than their predecessors, the government’s social mobility chief says.

• union threat | Delegates to the trade union congress voted against controversial new anti-strike laws that would require some employees in sensitive public services to continue working during strikes.

• interest rate debate | Catherine Mann, one of the Bank of England’s more hawkish policymakers, said interest rates should rise further, arguing the central bank needs to do more to ensure tight monetary policy works.