Brexit: New opportunities with China and Europe?

A special China relationship

China has been conceived in some quarters as one of the winners of Brexit. Far from rejoicing, China is as interested as the other large powers in global order and stability. And yet, Britain will need new friendships and deploy all its ingenuity to carve out a global niche like Switzerland has done. The FT reports that Britain already plans high-level diplomatic missions to China, India and the US. Will this work? The value of bridge-builders in networks is firmly established; de-coupled from Europe, the UK is all the less valuable to America. On the Indian front, it is also hard to see how the existing relationship could be meaningfully upgraded. At the same time a strategic Sino-British partnership has great potential and could even help integrate China further with Europe. Right after Brexit, George Osborne’s five-point plan to re-activate the British economy includes a push for Chinese investment.

Fortunately for the British there is a ready-made template for engaging Beijing; the Sino-Swiss Free Trade Agreement, which is a cornerstone of a deepening innovative strategic partnership. As a Swiss diplomat to China noted during last month’s World Economic Forum in Tianjin, a goal for the Swiss FTA was to be a model for the EU. Yet Brussels has been unconscionably lukewarm to Beijing’s overtures. It would be ironic if a Britain outside the EU hitchhikes on the Sino-Swiss best practice FTA template originally meant for the EU. For Switzerland the “a little bit less European, much more global” position seems to pay off.

On a different level, in China it escapes nobody that Brexit reinforces the domestic Chinese political narrative. In WeChat and other social networks, netizens poked fun at the post-vote decision-regret. They find the talk of a second referendum, the bumpy change of government and the volatility in financial markets to be in the best tradition of British humor, of the sardonic kind. The serious conclusion is that in a democracy voters are all too easily swayed by populism, demagogy and half-truths. Can a polity lead by enlightened leaders with a benevolent Confucian ethos be preferable after all? On the other hand, should the calls for a second referendum be heeded, or should Brexit boggle down to a non-exit of sorts, then democracy will be reduced to a device of devious statecraft. Or as a Chinese friend cynically observed: “Keep on voting until you get the result you want.”

Brexit could lead to new gainful arrangements with Europe and China. The question is whether Theresa May’s new government has the vision and skills for a sophisticated globalization push that compensates Britain’s exclusion from the European framework.

Tomas Casas is a faculty member of the University of St. Gallen and its Institute for International Management (FIM-HSG).

The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and don't represent views of China Daily website.