(Peoples Daily Online)17:20, July 11, 2019
Britain’s Ambassador to the U.S. resigned on Wednesday after the cables in which he criticized President Trump’s administration were leaked, with experts noting that the diplomatic row would further increase the rift and distrust between US and its allies.
“The finger-pointing between the US President and UK ambassador could create a rift in the two nations’ relations, while such negative outcome may have an influence on other US allies,” Zha Xiaogang, a research fellow at the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, told People’s Daily Online.
Ambassador Kim Darroch’s resign came after Mr. Trump lashed out at him on Twitter. In messages intended to be kept top secret, Darroch had described Trumps administration as inept and clumsy. The U.S. President essentially declared the ambassador persona-non-grata and said the White House would no longer engage with him.
“The ambassador’s messages could represent the attitude of some British elites’ towards the Trump administration – they don’t trust him, nor do they have faith in US policies regarding UK and Europe. The incident is clear evidence that US-UK alliance is not as strong as many may think,” Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs Universitys Institute of International Relations, told People’s Daily Online.
“Economically, the US’ anti-globalization stance is not shared by its allies, especially European countries, while geopolitically, the US’ hostility against China is not supported by its allies as well, as countries like UK all want to have a healthy relationship with China,” said Zha, who added that the incident is the latest evidence of the already existing rift between the US and its allies, with their divergence anticipated to continue to grow.
Echoing Zha, Li noted that though UK-US alliances may not be severely dampened by the incident, it still reveals the UK’s discontent with the Trump administration, which could cast a shadow on the relations between the two nations.
“For the long run, US’ leading position might be weakened by this incident. Its allies, including Japan, Germany and France, will re-examine their relations with US, with distrust increasing between the two sides,” said Zha.
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