10 Jun 2026
Former MP urges Britain to treat closer ties with Beijing as a strategic priority, not a diplomatic afterthought
Mark Logan, former Member of Parliament for Bolton North East and Vice-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary China Group, has published a major opinion piece in the Global Times, one of the world's most widely read international newspapers, arguing that deeper UK-China engagement is not merely desirable but urgent.
Writing in response to Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper's recent visit to Beijing, Mark set out a compelling case for why Britain must fundamentally rethink its relationship with China in a transformed geopolitical landscape. He observed that the world Cooper arrived in is unrecognisable from the one her husband, Ed Balls, visited as Economic Secretary to the Treasury back in 2006 - when China's GDP was roughly one eighth of America's. "Sitting out is not neutrality," Mark wrote. "It is strategic abdication."
He went on to argue that with an increasingly transactional United States no longer a reliable anchor for the rules-based international order, Britain can no longer outsource its global positioning to Washington. Instead, he said, the space created by America's transformation is precisely where a confident, strategic UK-China relationship should operate.
Mark also highlighted the structural complementarity between the two economies - China's manufacturing scale and technological ambition alongside Britain's strengths in financial services, life sciences, and professional expertise - and called on the UK Government to do more than facilitate engagement; it must lead it.
The Global Times is an English-language daily published under the auspices of the People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party. With a global readership in the tens of millions and a significant international policy audience, it represents one of the most prominent platforms for foreign voices on China-related affairs.
Publication in the Global Times is widely regarded as a mark of serious engagement with Chinese policymakers and public discourse.
Mark's piece can be read in full at https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202606/1363067.shtml