On May 8, 2023, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi had a phone call with UK Prime Minister’s National Security Adviser Tim Barrow at the latter’s request.

Wang Yi said that China attaches great importance to its relationship with the UK. China has noted that the UK recently expressed its willingness to preserve open, constructive and stable relations with China and announced that it would be wrong to declare some kind of “new Cold War” and to isolate China. These statements demonstrated the UK’s positive willingness to view China’s development in an objective light. China hopes that the two sides will work in the same direction, maintain the momentum of China-UK exchanges, steer clear of disruptions, focus on cooperation, properly handle differences, and calibrate the bilateral relationship under the new circumstances to embark on a new journey.

Wang Yi stressed that China is the only major country among the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council that has not achieved complete reunification. It is both a historical fact and an international consensus that Taiwan is a part of China. Achieving peaceful reunification is a long-cherished wish of 1.4 billion Chinese people and all those of Chinese descent around the world. China hopes that the UK will continue to abide by the one-China principle, respect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, uphold the principle of non-interference in each other’s internal affairs, and respect each other’s core interests and major concerns.

Barrow said that both the UK and China are permanent members of the UN Security Council and major countries with global influence. The UK will stay committed to the one-China policy and stands ready to work with China to maintain communication and exchanges, deepen cooperation, advance the building of a stable, sound, and mature bilateral relationship, and jointly address global challenges.

The two sides also exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis, among others. Wang Yi reiterated China’s position of promoting peace talks and expressed the hope that all parties would avoid taking actions that would further escalate the situation.