Kemi Badenoch said the UK should not describe China as a “foe” despite the arrest of a parliamentary researcher on suspicion of spying for Beijing. 

The Business and Trade Secretary was asked during an interview on Sky News this morning if China should be considered a friend of Britain or as a foe. 

She replied: “China is a country that we do a lot of business with. China is a country that is significant in terms of world economics, it sits on the UN Security Council. 

“We certainly should not be describing China as a foe but we can describe it as a challenge which is what the Justice Secretary said yesterday and which is what I am saying today. 

“I don’t think we should be careless in terms of how we speak about other countries when these sorts of things happen and what is significant is that the Prime Minister said to the Chinese premier just this weekend, he spoke about his very serious concerns and that is why it is important to be able to have the engagement so that you can speak face to face and say exactly what it is that we think in a way that will have an impact.”

Mr Sunak confronted Chinese premier Li Qiang at the G20 summit in India on Sunday over what he described as “unacceptable” interference in the UK’s democracy.

The researcher was arrested back in March but it was not disclosed until Saturday. Mr Sunak is now under growing pressure from Tory MPs to designate China as a “threat” rather than as a “challenge”.

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