BEIJING (AP) – On her first visit to China as Britain’s prime minister, Theresa May will try to reassure Beijing that she wants to strengthen ties despite her delay on a decision over whether to approve a Chinese-backed nuclear power plant in southwestern England.
The visit marks a testing point for relations that seemed on the upswing just months ago. While the mood in Beijing is that a post-Brexit Britain needs China more than ever, such assurances may be long in coming.
May’s predecessor David Cameron heralded a “golden decade” in bilateral ties, but he quit after Britain voted in June to separate from the European Union. In a perceived slight to China, May abruptly launched a review into the Hinkley Point C power plant project that Beijing is counting on to boost its nuclear technology exports.
Chinese leaders will be looking for signs that May is “going to go ahead with it like before,” an unlikely prospect given that the project is under review until this fall, said Steve Tsang, professor of contemporary Chinese studies at Britain’s University of Nottingham.
“I would expect that she would really want try to use this opportunity to reassure the Chinese that Hinkley Point C doesn’t mean that (Britain) does not want a good relationship with China,” said Tsang. “It’s a very wide-ranging relationship; there are many different dimensions to it. It shouldn’t all hang on something like Hinkley Point.”