Britain and China will move towards negotiating a trade agreement that will test the ability of this country post-Brexit to maintain its economic and foreign policy priorities in bilateral relations with a growing economic superpower.
There are several questions that Britain will need to consider with respect to its economic diplomacy. First, how should the UK position itself in negotiating a trade and/or investment agreement with China? Should China be a priority over say the U.S., the world’s current dominant superpower? Secondly, can Britain achieve its domestic economic aims through such trade deals? How will domestic politics shape or constrain its foreign economic policy? Thirdly, how can closer economic ties with China be made consistent with the UK’s foreign policy aims?
Professor Linda Yueh (@lindayueh) is Visiting Professor at LSE IDEAS and Chair of the LSE Economic Diplomacy Commission. She is Fellow in Economics at St Edmund Hall, Oxford University and Adjunct Professor of Economics at London Business School as well as Associate Fellow (Global Economy and Finance Department & U.S. and the Americas Programme) at Chatham House and was Visiting Professor of Economics at Peking University. She is a widely published author and Editor of the Routledge Economic Growth and Development book series. Her latest book, The Great Economists: How Their Ideas Can Help Us Today is The Times's Best Business Books of the Year.
Professor Christopher R. Hughes is Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where he also served as Director of the Asia Research Centre from 2002 to 2005. His PhD (from the LSE) on the topic of Taiwan and Chinese Nationalism was awarded the British International Studies Association best thesis of the year prize for 1995. He has since published widely on Chinese nationalism and regional politics in the Asia Pacific. He teaches specialist courses in the International Politics of the Asia Pacific, Chinese Foreign and Security Policy and Foreign Policy Analysis.
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