China: UK Government Expertise

Thursday 12th November 2026 Lords Chamber

Question

11:39

Asked by

[Lord Davidson of Glen Clova]

To ask His Majesty’s Government, in light of reports of China experts leaving government, what steps they will take to ensure that they have access to China expertise to support strategic engagement with China.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Baroness Winterton of Doncaster) (Lab)]

My Lords, the UK Government have extensive China experience at senior levels at home and overseas. We continue to strengthen that expertise through the cross-government China capability programme, which has trained more than 1,000 people from government departments, agencies and public bodies in the past year to build knowledge and language skills. We launched the China cadre, with more than 800 members across government, to support sustained career development. These initiatives support the development and retention of China expertise across government.

[Lord Davidson of Glen Clova (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend the Minister for her very full and encouraging response. One is conscious that there are a number of exceptionally talented individual experts within government in relation to China matters. However, one feels that that number is rather small and is under the impression that it is shrinking. One is also conscious that expertise in Chinese language, and, importantly, understanding its political context, takes years to develop. That is an expertise that cannot be bought. If my noble friend agrees that understanding the political context is critical, will she indicate what steps are being taken now to develop that expertise within government?

[Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Lab)]

I thank my noble and learned friend for that question. He raises an incredibly important point. I hope I can reassure him by saying that the FCDO has an extensive and integrated pool of China expertise, both in the UK and, crucially, across the world. He talked about political analysis. This includes a cadre of research analysts covering China who provide timely, high-quality, evidence-based research and analysis. In the last financial year, we have trained over 1,000 people from government departments, agencies and public bodies to build knowledge and language skills, working closely with the Great Britain-China Centre and other leading implementing partners. As I say, my noble and learned friend raised an important point, and I hope that that gives him some confidence that we are addressing the point that he made.

[Lord Bruce of Bennachie (LD)]

My Lords, what are the Government doing to recruit into the FCDO UK students graduating in Chinese studies, including spoken and written Mandarin? Can she confirm that—and explain how—not one of the graduates with such a degree from our top universities who applied to the FCDO was recruited? Are we now not only having to make existing staff redundant but unable to invest to build expertise for the future?

[Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Lab)]

I do not have the figures on recruitment, but I assure the noble Lord that, as I said, we have Mandarin speakers working across our overseas network and we continue to invest in Mandarin skills. Some 58 FCDO staff achieved qualifications in advanced Mandarin at C1 or C2 level during the five years to September 2026. We also introduced a China pathway as part of the diplomatic Fast Stream, which reflects the need to develop future leaders. I hope that that addresses the point the noble Lord made about future leaders. We want to see them have a strong understanding of China’s political system, economy, language, culture and global influence.

[Lord Ricketts (CB)]

My Lords, I know from experience that the FCDO does indeed attach a lot of importance to hard language skills, but is not the wider context to this the huge reductions in the FCDO budget that have been taking place, which mean that the FCDO is having to lose around 25% of its staff? That is an awful lot of experienced people, including language speakers. In a world of growing disorder, is not the way to address this problem to make good the FCDO budget for professional staff in the spending round next year?

[Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Lab)]

I have deep respect for the noble Lord’s knowledge in this area. Again, I hope I can reassure him that, although human resources, the budget and the relationships between staff in the UK and overseas are obviously kept under review, we are quite certain that the number of staff we have who are knowledgeable about China and are training is adequate. For example, more than 1,700 people trained in the last financial year, there are more than 800 members of the cross-government China cadre and £1.6 million has been spent on the China capability programme. We are putting in the resources necessary to support the programmes that we have with China and our strategic objectives with regard to China.

[Baroness D'Souza (CB)]

My Lords, diplomacy is an ancient art, and successful diplomacy presumes an intimate knowledge of the history, culture, politics and, above all, language of the country in question. As we have heard from the Minister, there is already investment in building China expertise within the FCDO. Will she say something about, first, how far that investment is working towards building an institutional memory? Secondly, what is the differential between the recruitment of would-be sinologists and would-be Arabists?

[Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Lab)]

With regard to the last part of the noble Baroness’s question, I am afraid that I do not know the figures for Arabic personnel. She is quite right about institutional knowledge, but it is not static in any organisation. There will be staff movements; that is an important part of any healthy business model. Frankly, when senior staff move on, we look to make sure that other talented colleagues can come in to take their place. We have many officials specialising in China policy in key areas of focus, even beyond foreign policy. As the noble Baroness says, diplomacy is incredibly important, but we also look at areas such as trade, science and innovation, and defence and security. As I say, we take a cross-government view with regard to China expertise.

[The Earl of Courtown (Con)]

My Lords, I think the whole House is very glad to hear about the expertise there is in the department relating to Chinese information, but the recent news about Jensen Huang’s links to a woman believed to be spying for China shows yet again the significance of the threat that China poses to the United Kingdom. Does the Minister now accept that Sir Keir Starmer’s and Jonathan Powell’s controversial thawing of relations with China was a strategic misstep?

[Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Lab)]

No, I do not accept that. The Government are taking a consistent, long-term and strategic approach to managing the UK’s relations with China; it is rooted in UK and global interests. Yes, the Government took an audit which recognised that we needed to strengthen our knowledge of China for our national security and for the secure growth of our economy. China, including Hong Kong, is equivalent to the UK’s third-largest trading partner in goods, worth £135 billion. At the same time, upholding national security and keeping the public safe is the first duty of this Government.

I have to say that, when former Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited China, he secured £2.2 billion in export deals and £2.3 billion in market access. That visit unlocked more opportunities for British businesses in China. While we of course want to protect our national interests, it is the duty of the Government to recognise the economic opportunities there are. Getting the balance of those two right is incredibly important in the approach we take.

[Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD)]

My Lords, the National Audit Office has reported that, under this Government, the Foreign Office will lose 15% to 25% of its staff, with an 8.3% reduction in its operational budget. That would mean 2,000 fewer Foreign Office officials, development staff and diplomats. Why does the Minister think that, in this increasingly complex and dangerous world, the Government’s response is to have fewer diplomats?

[Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Lab)]

I hope I can reassure the noble Lord that, while it is true that there have been significant financial pressures and certain changes will be made, the programme that has been undertaken has looked specifically at the need to protect our overseas posts. That is at the forefront of our thinking.