At the beginning of February the British prime minister, Theresa May, visited China, taking along her International Trade Minister and about fifty business leaders, which was a none-too-subtle signal that her trip involved rather more than her intention to “intensify the ‘Golden Era’ in UK-China relations.”

According to the official Chinese news agency, Xinhua, the so-called ‘Golden Era’ was agreed when President Xi visited the UK in 2015, but Xinhua made the point that relations soured when May delayed approval of Chinese construction of a nuclear power plant in Britain, citing “security concerns.” It observed that “such unfounded stroke of ‘China-phobia’ is detrimental not only to China-Britain relations, but to the British leader’s much trumpeted image of a ‘Global Britain’.”

Having made the disastrous decision to leave the European Union, Britain is searching frantically for trade partners around the world, but if it is thought in London that…