China warns UK, says criticism risks poisoning good relationship

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BEIJING: China’s Ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming (pic), said British politicians who have called for a re-setting of the ties between the two nations risk poisoning the relationship.

Anti-China rhetoric is in danger of undermining international solidarity in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, he said in a webinar on Tuesday (may 5).

The ambassador’s comment is a thinly veiled warning to senior Conservatives, including Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who said last month it could not be "business as usual” with China after Covid-19 (coronavirus).

"Regrettably a few politicians in the UK. have been addicted to the cold war mentality to compare China to the former Soviet Union and urge a review of the China-UK relationship, and even call for a new cold war,” Liu said.

"If they go unchecked they will poison the China-UK joint effort, and even international solidarity just as it’s needed most.”

The envoy said the global public health crisis highlighted how "helping each other is the only way to a final victory” over Covid-19. - Bloomberg