We liberals have promoted internationalism, yet recently we are in a dilemma – how to cope with China? If we isolate the China government their people are going to suffer from their government and our China policies.

The West is gradually finding a realistic way to cope with China. Not only is China’s help  needed in areas such as climate change and economic instability, but also Chinese people’s human rights will be protected by the non-isolation of China from the West. Their human rights have rapidly gone down to nearly zero: they can only follow the CCP’s orders, but no rights to speak truth, to complain, no way to escape when the economy is going downhill.

I was born, educated, and worked in China before I studied in University of Bristol in 2004. It took me about 20 years to understand democracy, human rights and freedom which are absent in China. My life in two countries told me one truth: British and Chinese society share nearly nothing in common, the conversations between the two counties are very much like Chicken-Duck talk (Chinese slang, means no way to understand each other).

I keep in close touch with my Chinese friends every day. I have watched their life getting worse and worse since Covid-19, but it’s impossible to get my observations published in Western media who require evidence and data.

The fact that the Chinese economy is going downhill can’t just be blamed on Xi’s policy of Covid Zero; the most important reason is Xi Jinping’s politics. Since Xi won his third term successfully earlier this year, China’s priority has changed from “economy first” to “Keeping Xi’s position secure”. It’s wrong to compare China’s economy to Japan’s Middle Income Trap; a more proper example is the former Soviet Union. Before the former Chinese PM Wen Jiaobao retired, he said:

Tragedies like the Cultural Revolution may happen to China again if the country failed to push political reform to uproot problems occurring in the society’.

I fear his words will come true if China is isolated.

Xi was described as a baijiazi( 败家子, the son of a rich family who finally bankrupted the family) by China social media in secret. The majority of money will be used by him to compete with the US, and ‘buy’ other South countries. He wants to lead the South-South cooperation to challenge the Western order, which is justified, but not by China’s methods at the cost of Chinese people, because avoiding Welfarism has been Xi’s policy – and please forget about the Chinese policy of common prosperity which has long gone.

At the moment Chinese are living in fear and worry, yet they were ordered to share good news on social media.  I have been furious at what Xi  has done to Chinese people and the world, yet thinking about the 1.3 billion people who are under his cruel control, I can see that cooperation between the West and China will decrease his worry of self-security and hence provide a bit of mercy to people.

* Yue He Parkinson is an Executive member of North Somerset Libdems and a member of Chinese Libdems. She was a candidate for this year's local elections in North Somerset and is a columnist of FT Chinese and a freelance writer for South China Morning Post.