The Problem of China in the British Foreign Office Mind: Understanding a Rising Superpower, 1922-1985

This book is a work of British diplomatic history that illuminates how Britain’s China officials grappled with China’s changing position in international affairs during the 20th century. Arguing that the idea of a ’rising China’ was recognised by these officials as early as the 1920s, and that they actively took steps to plan for this eventuality, Yule-Smith shows how they were guided by a strategic, long-term view of what Britain should try to achieve in its relations with China. This dilemma of how to reconcile a country that then appeared weak and disordered, with the view that it would once again return to great power, became understood in Foreign Office circles as the ’problem of China’.

This book will challenge the idea that the concept of a ’rising China’ did not emerge until the 1980s or later, instead asserting that a small cadre of experts were exploring what China’s return to power would mean for both the UK and the wider international order as early as the 1920s. The book brings these British China officials out of the shadows of history to ascertain how they understood China; and how they tried to define Britain’s diplomatic efforts over the course of the twentieth century. Finally, it will draw lessons from these diplomatic histories and offer some policy recommendations for modern day Anglo-Chinese relations.

Oliver Yule-Smith is the Ax: Son Johnson Institute for Statecraft and Diplomacy Research Fellow at the Centre for Grand Strategy in the Department for War Studies at King’s College London, UK.