Chinese envoy hits back at Williamson's 'gunboat diplomacy'
2019-02-27 10:40:20 source：The Guardian
February 26, 2019
China’s ambassador to the UK has fired an unmistakable warning shot in the direction of the defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, accusing him of “resurrecting the cold war and gunboat diplomacy”, after the cabinet minister said the UK would send an aircraft carrier to the Pacific to challenge China.
Writing in the Guardian, Liu Xiaoming did not name Williamson but accused “a certain British politician” of hyping up the “China threat”.
In a speech this month, Williamson announced that the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth would be sent to the Pacific, where Beijing has been involved in a dispute over territorial claims in the South China Sea, for its first operational cruise, expected to be in 2021. He said the UK was prepared to use lethal force to deter countries that flouted international law, in an apparent reference to Chinese expansion.
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