Editor's note: Lord Davidson of Glen Clova QC, the spokesperson for the Treasury of the shadow cabinet of the UK Labour Party and a member of the House of Lords, sits down with CGTN anchor Xu Qinduo. He says that newly-elected UK Prime Minister Liz Truss has to recognize the importance of a mutually-respectful relationship between the UK and China. Also, he stresses that simply mirroring U.S. policy is an unsound way forward for the UK. Talking about China's development, he affirms that China has a rational plan for the future and what China says it is going to do is usually what China does. Views expressed in the video are the interviewee's and do not necessarily represent those of CGTN.

Lord Davidson: I do wonder that Ms. Truss, who has been rather shrill about UK-China relations… whether she is now confronted with the reality of being in government, and has to recognize the importance of a mutually-respectful relationship between the UK and China. I certainly hope that it's the way that she will now proceed because campaigning and rhetoric to the conservative party is one thing, but living in the real world, with real relationships with the world's second-largest economy is rather important.

Xu Qinduo: When we look at British China policy, there's a factor people say, an element of the United States. Some would say British foreign policy almost a complete overlap with the U.S., whether on the Iranian nuclear deal, climate change, the importance of spending more on defense, NATO, Russia, or now China. Is that the case? How big a role is the U.S. factor in the UK's China policy?

Lord Davidson: It's a historical fact that the UK has been an ally of the US for many years. But what is absolutely clear, which conservative prime ministers over the past always recognized that the UK strategic interests are not identical to the U.S. strategic interests. Therefore, simply mirroring U.S. policy is an unsound way forward for the UK. Even Ms. Thatcher fell out with Ronald Reagan from time to time.

Xu Qinduo: The UK is actively aiding efforts to curb China's Belt and Road Initiative; of course not only the UK, but also other Western nations, people have this concern whether this is an initiative to increase, expand the Chinese influence in poorer countries. People have this concern. And we can see that there are also efforts by the G7, for example, the U.S., the European Union, counter-efforts, I would call it basically to balance or to compete with the Belt and Road Initiative. How are those efforts going?

Lord Davidson: The effect of the Chinese economy, which is now very large, is inevitably going to have effects on the rest of the world. BRI is a rational approach from a large economy that seeks to have relations with other economies. That is simply an objective fact. If the West, the U.S. or even the UK doesn't like BRI then it should compete and should compete in a sensible way, saying “This is what we have to offer. If China has that to offer, we leave that to other countries to choose,” which is the better way forward. An economic competition is the sensible way in which relationships can be developed.

Xu Qinduo: The Communist Party of China, the National Congress, 20th National Congress, will take place next month on the 16th. This is clearly a very important political gathering in China this year. So, people are expecting those several key decisions to be made about the country's development for the next 5 years or so. So, what do you expect the most out of this meeting?

Lord Davidson: Well, I suspect is highly likely that we will see continued growth by the Chinese economy in all the positive areas, dealing with matters of energy, climate change and so on. And I think it's important on a global basis that the rest of us look more intelligent there at what China proposes to do for the next five years. Because what China says it is going to do is usually what China does. This is not like the political statements that one sometimes gets in the UK in the last week or two, and then are reversed. China has a rational plan for the future. We need to look at that carefully. We need to see where China is going and how we can adapt to those changes.

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