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Broadcaster Iain Dale ripped into a British foreign policy chief, claiming her strategy “sounds like appeasement to me”. Speaking on LBC, Dale challenged British Foreign Policy Group director Sophia Gaston who said UK must “learn more” about China and “be less complacent”. This comes after Beijing’s ambassador to London Liu Xiaoming said the UK was at a “critical historical juncture” in how it treats China.

Mr Liu said in a speech on Thursday that disputes between the UK and China over Hong Kong, tech giant Huawei and human rights abuses in Xinjiang have “seriously poisoned” relations between the two countries.

In response to the ongoing China-UK crisis, the British Foreign Policy Group has conducted a report into how the UK should approach Beijing.

The report called for “Britain to try and find a middle ground between the complacency of the past and some of the paranoia that’s starting to develop”.

Ms Gaston insisted the UK must gain a greater understanding of China and then think “strategically and critically” about how Sino-British relations will work in relation to infrastructure, higher education and business.

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She said: “We need to enhance our knowledge and understanding about China in our institutions, and businesses, and general public.

“We need to have a constructive parternship with China and an economic partnership.”

Dale rebuked: “It sounds like appeasement to me.”

Ms Gaston responded: “That’s the wrong way to look at it. We are calling for a much tougher line outwardly, in defending our liberal values and also ensuring we are shoring up our defences in the UK.

“It’s not feasible to move our relationship with China to something akin to our relationship with North Korea or Iran, where we have active sanctions in place

“The situation is unprecedented.”

Dale hit back, pointing out the reason the UK has taken exception to China is not only due to their Hong Kong security law and their terrible treatment of the Uighur Muslim.

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He said: “You think it’s us who needs to change our attitude rather than them.”

During the ambassador’s length press conference on Thursday, Mr Liu urged the UK to “resist pressure” from the US to condemn China.

The ambassador said he hoped the governments had “enough wisdom and capabilities” to move forward from their differences “rather than allowing anti-China forces and Cold War warriors to kidnap the China-UK relationship”.

Mr Liu’s press conference lasted for over an hour, as he condemned “irresponsible remarks” of British ministers and the press for their coverage of his government.

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