MP warns kowtowing to China comes at a 'very high price'

As the Covid-19 crisis continues Tonbridge MP Tom Tugendhat has warned about the dangers of any ongoing economic and trade links with China where the virus started.

Speaking as Chairman of Parliament's influential Foreign Affairs Select Committee, he said: "The truth is that the coronavirus pandemic has revealed what many of us have known for years - that our economic dependence on China and kowtowing to its government comes at a very high price."

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He pointed out that scientists have long warned that China's live food markets are a breeding ground for 'disease, epidemics and pandemics'.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday Mr Tugendhat, seen by some as a future Prime Minister, added: "We are all paying the price for Beijing's decision to ignore the science, prioritise trade - and put the rest of the world's health at risk."

He continued that while the Chinese government was telling the World Health Organisation that the virus could only be transmitted from animals to humans, the country's scientists knew that humans were infecting each other.

"Make no mistake," the MP said, "China is determined to create a new world order with itself at the top."

He posed the question about what our politicians and envoys might be planning for the future.

"Above all, they should treat the way the world has come together to fight the pandemic as a blueprint to consolidate and strengthen the freedoms we take for granted and which are under threat from China," he said.

"The alternative will cost us very dear."

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