Lord Peter Mandelson, the new UK ambassador destined for Washington, DC, met a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official who oversaw alleged global attacks on dissidents, the Times revealed Thursday.
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer tapped Mandelson last month to represent his left-wing government under the second Trump administration, replacing current envoy Dame Karen Pierce.
Mandelson has long been an arch critic of Trump but he was still approved by the new White House incumbent despite the shared antipathy between the two parties.
In the interim, it has been revealed the Labour political veteran who has long pushed for closer trade links between Beijing and London previously made contact with a representative of the CCP. The Times report sets out:
In June 2023 he met the CCP official Liu Jianchao, who formerly led a Chinese campaign to repatriate individuals seen by Beijing as corrupt. The programme has been described by human rights groups as “transnational repression.”
According to a press release on the website for the CCP’s international department, Mandelson and Liu met to discuss “strategic communication with major political parties in the UK”.
The release reads: “Mandelson said that the current world situation is very different from the past, and European countries have no intention of curbing China’s development and do not support ‘decoupling’ from China. He hopes that European businesses can continue to enjoy a good business environment and opportunities when doing business and hopes that both sides will promote the positive development of UK-China and EU-China relations through party channels.”
The Times report goes on to state it is not known in what capacity Mandelson made the visit to China.
When asked by the outlet about the meeting, he called the questions “ridiculous nonsense”.
At the time he was chairman of the consultancy firm he founded, Global Counsel, and was also close to the Labour leadership’s office, especially with Starmer’s closest adviser and now Downing Street chief of staff Morgan McSweeney.
File/Peter Mandelson speaks during an interview on the sidelines of the JP Morgan Global China Summit in Beijing, China, on Wednesday, May 8, 2019. Mandelson is a former European trade commissioner. (Giulia Marchi/Bloomberg via Getty)
On Tuesday it was further reported a dossier about his links to China had been passed to the FBI, after it was drawn up by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international cross- party group of lawmakers.
The Times reports it has seen a version of the dossier, which alleges Mandelson held a further three meetings with CCP officials.
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