UK government's 'silencing' exposes its weakness: China Daily editorial

There must have been some serious pushback from the United Kingdom government against the remarks made by HSBC's public affairs head Sherard Cowper-Coles at a closed-door event in London in June.

Otherwise, Cowper-Coles, who is also chair of the China-Britain Business Council, would not have felt the need to issue a public statement via HSBC on Monday apologizing for his remarks.

In it he said, "I was speaking at a private event under the Chatham House rule (under which those involved can use the information discussed but not specify the identity or affiliation of the speaker) and my personal comments don't reflect the views of HSBC or the China-Britain Business Council. I apologize for any offense caused."

A spokesperson for HSBC has also stressed that Cowper-Coles was at a private roundtable discussion and sharing his personal views.

His remarks that have caused such a stir: the UK government was "weak" and would often bow to the demands of Washington on its China policy, and in his opinion it shouldn't blindly follow the US but look after its own interests.

The leaking of what he said to Bloomberg, which reported his criticism of the UK and the United States on Monday, has clearly been politically motivated. The Bloomberg report made this explicit by stating his remarks were released by "the people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the event was private".

That Cowper-Coles felt the need to issue an apology for expressing his personal opinions at a private event serves to show the extent to which the UK is in thrall to Washington and the lengths the UK government will go to in its efforts to mute any voices critical of its subservience.

In fact, the UK is using a double-barreled shotgun as it has attacked not only Cowper-Coles but also HSBC, which, although headquartered and listed in London, makes a large proportion of its profit in China. That, as CNN noted, makes it particularly vulnerable to the increasing geopolitical tension between Beijing and the West.

The reason why the UK government tries to muffle any voices critical of its fawning to the US is because they go straight to the heart of the matter. As Cowper-Coles said in an interview with the Chinese media in May: "Some of the nonsense we hear talked in the US Congress, in the US media, and in parts of the parliament in London about China these days just shows how ignorant people are and how prejudiced. They need to come to China and see for themselves the realities."

Only those standing against the UK exercising its strategic autonomy would feel offended or threatened by such advice and thus try to silence it.