As recently as 2018, the UK government was continuing to describe the UK-China relationship as being in a ‘golden era’, following a deliberate effort to position the UK as China’s number one partner in Europe even before the decision to leave the EU was taken. By the summer of 2020, China’s ambassador described the relationship as ‘seriously poisoned’ following a series of UK policy decisions that negatively impacted on China. Rhetoric aside, the trajectory of the UK-China relationship has changed substantively in a relatively short space of time. In this talk, I identify key developments…

While China-ascendant geopolitics becomes an increasing reality, and the focus in Asia and beyond is on how other states can cooperate, compete, adjust or contain China, what is often missed is the weaponization of emotions, sensitivity, and “hurt” by the Chinese state. Any criticism of China on Uyghurs, Hong Kong, or Tibet leads to a reaction along the lines of “this is our internal affairs”, or “this hurts our national sentiments.” In this book talk, Prof. Dibyesh Anand will discuss how “hurt”, “national humiliation,” and “national sensitivity” are politically constructed foreign policy tools for China,…