From red October to saffron November: Britain bracing for reverse Raj
Even for a fickle follower of international news, Tuesday, October 20, 2015 served a busy breakfast in London. Menu was deliberately Asian and recipes could not have been more varied – Chinese, Indian and Pakistani – since the British capital offers more international news outlets than anywhere else in the world.
Morning bulletins on mainstream news channels led with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s maiden state visit followed by the daylong coverage of his engagements with the royalty and the government. The Queen hailed the “milestone” visit of President Xi and declared Anglo-Chinese ties were being taken to “ambitious new heights”. The president, visibly assured of his power in today’s world, reciprocated with similar accolades. Billions of pounds sterling are being hoped for by London and the Chinese President was willing to deliver the same for the struggling British economy.
It was fascinating to observe that a country that hardly let a moment pass without raising alarm about human rights abuses in China until very recently, whether they were in regard to Tiananmen Square incident of 1989 or about Dalai Lama’s professed right to lord over Tibet, purposely pushed the right’s activists to insignificance on the Mall as the golden coach carrying the Queen and the President strolled by. So sensitively was scrutinized the attention to detail that Prince Charles, the future king, avoided the state banquet as media reproduced his remarks wherein he called the Chinese officials “an appalling old waxworks” somewhere in the last millennium.
Even independent criticism was muted and focus remained glued to the Hinkley Point nuclear power plant deal and the goodies basket that President Xi brought along for Britain – worth approximately £30 billion. Prime Minister Cameron could not have been more upbeat when he said: “This is going to be a very important moment for British-Chinese relations. Trade and investment between our two nations is growing and our people-to-people links are strong”.
According to Financial Times, China is set to invest £105bn in UK infrastructure by 2025. Richard Laudy, a partner at Pinsent Masons, a full service law firm with offices in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, described in media interviews the prospect of greater Chinese investment as a “game changer” for Britain, adding: “We expect this to be the beginning of a major trend as a trickle of Chinese investment turns into a wave over the coming decade.”
Too early to predict if Britain would get the hoped-for billions and the 3900 projected jobs are really created in sectors that are of the Chinese choice. Unlike South Asia where job losses hardly make headlines, advance economies are closely tied with market performance. And that is where the Indian industrial juggernaut – Tata, jolted the news gathering operations of British media. Blaming the cheap Chinese imports among other factors, the Indian steel giant picked up the most appropriate day to announce its latest in a series of cuts, with 1,200 jobs going at its plants in Scunthorpe and Lanarkshire.
The owner of Britain’s biggest steelworks has reported losses more than doubling as it buckles in the face of high taxes and energy costs, the strong pound and cheap Chinese imports.Feeling the heat coming through the workers at the plants and their families, John Park, assistant general secretary of trade union Community, told the BBC: “The government should hang its head in shame at today’s news. The cruel irony of the prime minister welcoming the Chinese premier as UK steel jobs are cut, partly due to Chinese steel dumping, will not be lost on the UK’s steelworkers and their communities.”
Prime Minister David Cameron made promises to raise the issue in talks with President Xi. He might have done and may raise the same subject again with Indian Prime Minister Narinder Modi when he lands in London on November 12 on his maiden trip to British Isles. The Queen may not host the Indian premier but the Indian bureaucracy is flexing its muscles to arrange Mr Modi’s trip to Buckingham Palace lest his trip is seen as a slight in the South Asian region when compared with the royal extravaganza laid out for the Chinese head of state. After all, India is reported to be the third largest source of inward investment into UK after the United States and France.Over 120 projects are funded by Indian money.
With Britain struggling to outdo European Union in attracting foreign direct investment to boost its flailing economy, all indications suggest that London would be painted saffron for Prime Minister Modi. He might not bring with him the billion basket, but he is set to showcase the vibrancy of non-resident Indians for the British economy and society. Over 60,000 Indians are hoping to fill the Wembley Stadium where Mr Modi would address them.
His trip would not be as smooth an affair as that of the President Xi because dozens of MPs are gearing up to protest against human rights violations in India. Groups of Sikhs, Kashmiri and Indian Muslims have geared up too to let their sentiments known to the world that India might be right to proclaim to be the largest democracy in the world but conditions for Indian minorities are deteriorating fast and that too with the perceived backing of Mr Modi’s fanatic government.
But the government is waiting anxiously for Mr Modi’s visit hoping their rich Western economy would benefit from a poor Third World country’s contribution. The sentiment that currently prevails in the Whitehall was expressed by Sir James Bevan KCMG, British Commissioner to India in a recent statement: “India and the UK share a long-standing, highly collaborative relationship, fuelling the prosperity of both countries and we greatly value our association with India. The fact that in 2014-15 Indians were the third largest job creators in the UK is a tremendous testimony to the strength of our ties, while the UK is also the largest G20 investor in India, proving the two-way relationship. As Prime Minister Modi said, when the UK and India work together, we are ‘an unbeatable combination.’
China and India may be fighting each other to own the biggest piece of British economy, for the million and a quarter British Pakistanis, the China-India factor is hardly a major story. For they comfortably stay away from the British or international media. For them Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s yet another sojourn en route the United States was the actual story. They follow the gossip galore that grips Pakistan every time a civilian or martial ruler travels to Washington. Like everyone “back home”, they too guess whether the smartly dressed up Pakistani ruler would get a well-deserved dressing down or not. Sad their stories are hardly picked up the mainstream British media.