LONDON — Before the Chinese prime minister came to Britain to sign billions of pounds’ worth of business contracts last month, a brief diplomatic spat erupted. The planned length of the red carpet rolled out for Li Keqiang at Heathrow Airport fell short of the plane by about 10 feet, his aides complained. Could this be fixed?
Prime Minister David Cameron’s office responded that it had more important things to worry about, according to several accounts in the press. But Mr. Cameron did give in to another Chinese demand: Mr. Li, who had reportedly threatened to cancel his trip if he did not get an audience with Queen Elizabeth II, was received for a hastily arranged cup of tea at Windsor Castle, an honor typically reserved for heads of state.
It was a meeting of an emerging great power with a former great power. But it was also a meeting of great insecurities.
China, which by some estimates will become the No. 1 economy in the world this year, still seeks alidation in protocol, in this case from the onetime colonial power that humiliated it with opium wars and gunboat diplomacy. Britain, with an indebted state and an economy that has still not fully recovered, needs the investment.
Incensed at the leaks about China’s requests in the British press (“China sees Red,” was The Daily Mail’s triple pun), a newspaper controlled by China’s Communist Party, Global Times, swiftly hit back, calling Britain an “old, declining empire” that engaged in “eccentric acts” to hide its fading importance.
To be sure, Britain is in a bit of a funk. Its main parties are still reeling from their defeat by the anti-immigration U.K. Independence Party in the recent European elections. A referendum on Scottish independence in September could start a process that eventually reduces Great Britain to Little England. And another possible referendum on Britain’s membership in the European Union in 2017 — promised by Mr. Cameron if he wins re-election next year — could all but wipe out the country’s already limited clout on the Continent.
Even Britain’s military, traditionally celebrated as one of the more serious defense structures on this side of the Atlantic, is getting a hard time, and not just because of the still-raging controversy over the decision to stand by the United States in invading Iraq in 2003. “British troops too fat to fight,” The Times of London claimed on a recent front page.
To make matters worse, the English soccer team was effectively eliminated from the World Cup after a mere two games. (What is the difference between England and a tea bag? asks a joke that has taken on new life here. Answer: The tea bag stays in the cup for longer.)
The only hope for bolstering the national mood this summer is Andy Murray, Britain’s highest-seeded tennis player, who is currently battling it out at Wimbledon.
Mr. Murray is from Scotland, of course, and might not be British for that much longer. The idea of Scotland’s departure came up on the sidelines of the China-Britain summit meeting last month, as a member of the Chinese delegation tried to get his head around the Scottish referendum. With Taiwan or perhaps Tibet on his mind, he asked what Westminster would “do” if the Scots actually voted to secede.
“We would let them secede,” came the British answer.
For all the soul-searching about the state of affairs in Britain, it is an answer that everyone here takes for granted and is rooted in a commitment to freedom, human rights and self-determination that remains largely alien to China.
Mr. Cameron irked Chinese officials in 2012 by meeting the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader. Still, at a joint news conference with Mr. Li, Mr. Cameron chose not to bring up the thorny issue of human rights in China. Instead, it appeared to be Britain’s turn to seek validation. Which country mattered the most to China, a British reporter asked — Britain, France or Germany? There followed a long, noncommittal response from Mr. Li and eventually a cryptic conclusion: “When you’re in a local place,” he said, “you sing local songs.”
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