Britain’s Foreign Secretary Miliband visits China

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who is in Beijing for talks, said Iran’s nuclear issue is a shared goal for the two countries. 

Speaking at a news briefing in Beijing, Mr. Miliband said Iran’s nuclear program is a kind of test for all of us.

Iran’s nuclear program became one of the key issues on the agenda of the two foreign ministers were discussing in Beijing. David Miliband thinks Britain and China have been developing common approach on the issue. Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi agreed with his British counterpart and said China had become more concerned about Iran. However, he noted that tougher sanctions, favored by Western nations, were not a fundamental solution to the problem.

Ahead of his visit to Beijing, Mr. Miliband said he was going to discuss with his Chinese counterpart the problem with human rights and free access to information there. He was also going to persuade Beijing to back the UN sanctions against Iran. Difficulties in the UK-China bilateral relations were also on the agenda. Late last year, relations were strained when China ignored personal appeals from UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown not to execute a 53-year-old Briton Akmal Shaikh for drug smuggling. Disputes broke out also over China’s position at the climate summit in Copenhagen last autumn and its trade protectionism.

Though both foreign ministers appeared to have been negotiating as true partners, it is hard to say whether Mr. Miliband managed to bring his ideas home to his Chinese counterpart. Following Mr. Miliband`s talks with Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, the sides confirmed their intention to keep a close watch on trade protectionism and work together to prevent it. Mr. Jiabao welcomed the British investing in China and promised favorable conditions for that. The Chinese Premier thinks the two countries could successfully cooperate on environmental protection and climate change. Mr. Miliband, in his turn, said the futures of Britain and China were linked together despite some remaining difficulties. He thinks the two countries should be partners, not competitors. Mr. Miliband also said Britain welcomes free trade and does not want China to be pressed over its national currency’s exchange rate. Western nations, first of all the US, had accused China of manipulating its currency.

What made David Miliband abandon his aggressive tone with China? Probably, London has decided to soften its attitude in fear that Russia, India and China could set up a kind of a strategic triangle. After all, China is no longer a developing country. And maybe Mr. Miliband recalled The Ballad of East and West by Rudyard Kipling, which was written 100 years but has not become outdated.