It has only been a few months since Labour’s much-trailed ‘China audit’ – touted as the masterplan that would finally bring coherence to Britain’s China policy – yet once again the government’s China position looks as muddled as ever.

The latest furore is over Operation High Mast, Britain’s first carrier strike group deployment to the Far East under the Labour government. Defence Secretary John Healey wants HMS Richmond, a Royal Navy frigate, to conduct a transit of the Taiwan Strait – which separates China and Taiwan. It’s the sort of routine passage that Britain and its allies have long treated as normal. Foreign Secretary David Lammy, however, is said to be blocking the move, anxious not to ruffle feathers in Beijing. The decision now sits with the Prime Minister, who continues to dither. For Starmer the choice should be clear. Failure to sail the HMS Richmond through the Taiwan Strait would be a major surrender to Beijing.

We have been here before. Despite only a fraction of the Strait falling within China’s territorial waters,........

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