Illustration: Chen Xia/GT

Facing the UK's unwillingness to decouple from China as a condition for reaching a trade deal with the US, it appears that the US is growing increasingly anxious. Peter Navarro, the US president's trade adviser, recently accused the UK of being a "compliant servant" to China in an interview with the UK media outlet The Telegraph, warning that normal ties with Beijing would "suck the UK blood and the EU blood." Such a ludicrous claim is nothing more than political blackmail. It reveals Washington's strategic ploy to coerce London into further submission to its China policy by stigmatizing normal China-UK economic and trade relations. 

The assertion that "if the Chinese vampire can't suck the American blood, it's going to suck the UK blood and the EU blood" is rooted in extreme hostility toward China. The goal is to demonize the mutually beneficial nature of China-UK and China-EU economic and trade relations. Such rhetoric is by no means meant to serve UK interests; rather, it stems from American interests and seeks to coerce the UK into confronting China.

There have been positive signs regarding China-UK relations as the current UK government steers toward a more pragmatic approach in its dealings with China. UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves both visited China in close succession, reaffirming the importance of UK-China cooperation. China is Britain's fourth-largest trading partner. Reeves also highlighted that renewed engagement with China could add up to ￡1 billion ($1.22 billion) in value to the UK economy. How can such a mutually beneficial relationship be construed as Britain being "sucked dry"?

From the absurd "blood-sucking" rhetoric to the US relentless pressure on Britain to decouple from China, Washington's actions reveal who the real "economic vampire" is - exploiting Britain's strategic value under the guise of a "special relationship" while coercing it to sacrifice its own developmental interests to serve America's containment agenda against China. This self-serving hegemonic behavior not only fractures global industrial chains but will ultimately reduce Britain to a casualty of US unilateralism. 

Navarro also claimed that "the UK and the EU have to be very vigilant about becoming dumping grounds for the products that China would otherwise sell to America." This false narrative is intended to stoke panic in Europe over an imagined flood of Chinese exports. In reality, data tells a different story. During Donald Trump's first term, when sweeping tariffs were imposed on Chinese imports, there was no significant diversion of Chinese exports from the US to Europe. Between 2018 and the first 10 months of 2024, China's share of exports to the US dropped by 4.6 percent, while its share to Europe rose by only 0.4 percent. This clearly demonstrates that Europe has not, and will not, become a "dumping ground."

The US' cheap intimidation tactics and attempt to meddle in China-UK relations are aimed at pushing Britain to toe Washington's line, sever economic ties with China, and abandon its own red lines on sovereignty and standards. Fortunately, it seems that till now the UK government has remained clear-headed. When presented with Navarro's comments, a government spokesperson told the Telegraph: "This government will always take a clear-eyed and strategic approach to managing the UK's relations with China." The Independent, a British online newspaper, described Navarro's remarks as "crazy."

"On core national interests, the UK now has its own agendas and is increasingly unwilling to blindly follow the US, as cutting off cooperation with China would mean forfeiting development opportunities of its own," said Zhao Junjie, a senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of European Studies. 

Some US politicians who shout "America First" are demanding that the rest of the world sacrifice their own interests to maximize America's gains. These are the true "vampires," wielding tariffs as their fangs. History will prove that blindly following America's anti-China policy will only drain Britain of development opportunities, while maintaining independent, pragmatic cooperation remains its only viable path forward.