Lord Stirrup
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Lord Stirrup (CB)
My Lords, does this not reflect the flaw in the approach of successive Governments to China? They have all said that we will engage with China where it is appropriate, trade with it where it is appropriate and contest it where it is appropriate. That would be fine if those things came in separate boxes, but that is not how the CCP sees the world. It uses every aspect of Chinese society as a tool to further what it sees as its national interests. It is not at all clear to me that we do the same thing in such a holistic fashion. It is not about not engaging with China. It is about checking your fingers before and after you do and approaching every aspect of engagement with the right degree of caution and suspicion.