Lack of Mandarin speakers raises fears for future diplomacy
Only 14 Foreign Office officials are being trained to speak fluent Mandarin each year on average, a transparency request shows, raising concerns that Britain could be left at a diplomatic disadvantage.
I spoke to The Times about my concerns over the impact of the Government’s repeated failure to build up our China capabilities over the past 12 years. It’s symptomatic of a government that is divided on China and has no clear strategy.