With the rise of an ever more assertive China countries like the UK have a challenge to respond, with competing arguments made for both a complete decoupling and increased trade and cooperation. As Labour’s Shadow Asia Minister, Catherine West MP will outline a progressive way forward for the UK’s engagement with China and the challenges it poses, all with an emphasis on security, values, and trade.

Catherine West MP is shadow foreign minister for Asia and the Pacific. She was born and raised in Australia, where she worked as a social worker in a refuge for survivors of childhood sexual abuse, before moving to the UK in 1998. She holds a master’s degree in Chinese Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. She has represented Hornsey and Wood Green in parliament since 2015.