DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Time to treat China as a malign actor
For decades, the guiding principle of Britain’s dealings with China has been that if we engage with the communist regime it will play with a straight bat.
While ministers have occasionally criticised Beijing’s appalling human rights record, they have also bent over backwards not to alienate our fifth largest trade partner.
Indeed, only two weeks ago Foreign Secretary James Cleverly met Chinese officials, despite repeated intelligence warnings about the threat it posed to Britain’s national security. Yet with every passing week, this softly-softly approach is looking increasingly naïve.
The arrest for alleged spying activities of a parliamentary researcher with links to several senior Tory MPs serves only to strengthen the fear that China views the UK less as a friend than a foe.
Which makes it all the more important that Britain urgently reconsiders its invitation to China to attend November’s artificial intelligence summit, when governments will agree safety measures governing the ways AI is used.
While ministers have occasionally criticised Beijing ‘s appalling human rights record, they have also bent over backwards not to alienate our fifth largest trade partner (Pictured: Xi Jinping)
Organisers have reasoned that involving the Chinese in the decision-making would make them feel duty bound to obey the rules. But the idea that these tyrants will simply conform to any global accord is ridiculous, as they have demonstrated with their ruthless duplicity over Hong Kong.
As Edward Lucas points out today, far from regarding AI as a tool to further advances in medical science and education, Beijing will treat it as another opportunity to spy, harass and steal intellectual property.
The Government must not treat China like any other country, but as a malign actor hell bent on global domination. When will the penny finally drop?
Shamefully silenced
Few could fail to have been touched by our heart-breaking interview on Saturday with a 19-year-old girl who is fighting attempts by NHS doctors to withdraw her life-preserving care.
A court ruling has forbidden her from putting her name to her story, preventing her from fundraising to join clinical trials in North America.
(Stock Photo) Few could fail to have been touched by our heart-breaking interview on Saturday with a 19-year-old girl who is fighting attempts by NHS doctors to withdraw her life-preserving care
So it is heartening to see so many powerful voices stepping forward to demand these draconian restrictions be lifted.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay should take note of their pleas and help her regain both her name and her voice. At the very least, it would give this brave young woman the opportunity to pursue the most basic human instinct there is – to survive.
A dangerous liberty
For the friends and family of Joanna Simpson there can be no more appalling prospect. Despite bludgeoning her to death, her husband Robert Brown will be released from prison in weeks having served just 13 years of a 26-year sentence.
Her friend Hetti Barkworth-Nanton tells the Mail that she and Joanna’s family are ‘terrified’, and who can blame them?
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk promised yesterday that he was doing ‘everything’ to veto Brown’s release. Fine words, but the clock is ticking. For everyone’s safety, this remorseless killer must remain where he belongs – behind bars.
No one disputes the fact that the slave trade was one of unmitigated evil. But is it the right course for Caribbean nations to demand slavery reparations from the Royal Family centuries later?
Perhaps they should heed the wise words of Sir Trevor Phillips, who in Friday’s Mail suggested their energies would be better directed in tackling modern problems such as knife crime, which disproportionately affects young black men.
No amount of money can atone for past sins. But we can learn from them and together strive to build a better, more just future.
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