As the United Kingdom pursues a more pragmatic and independent approach to its relationship with China, the United States is showing increasing signs of anxiety and frustration. This unease recently surfaced in an extraordinary outburst from Peter Navarro, the former trade adviser to President Donald Trump, who accused the UK of becoming a “compliant servant” to China. In an interview with The Telegraph, Navarro warned that engaging economically with Beijing would “suck the UK blood and the EU blood.” Such inflammatory language reveals not only Washington’s desperation but also its deeper strategic intentions: to coerce Britain into sacrificing its national interests for America’s broader anti-China containment strategy.

The imagery of China as a “vampire” draining the economic vitality of Western nations is not just absurd-it is an act of political blackmail. It aims to stigmatize the normal and mutually beneficial trade relations between China and the UK. By painting China-UK economic cooperation as a threat, Washington seeks to force London into choosing sides in a geopolitical rivalry that increasingly serves only American interests, not Britain’s.

The facts, however, tell a very different story. UK-China relations have shown promising signs of pragmatic engagement. High-level visits by UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves to China reaffirmed the importance of fostering cooperation. Reeves, in particular, underscored that renewed economic engagement with China could add up to £1 billion ($1.22 billion) to the British economy. China is already Britain’s fourth-largest trading partner,........

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