Rishi Sunak has defied critics within the Conservatives party as he defended inviting China to his flagship Artificial Intelligence summit at Bletchley Park next week.
The prime minister rebuffed Tory MPs who demanded the country be excluded and insisted there could be “no serious strategy for AI” without one of the world’s leaders in the technology.
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, one of a number of China ‘hawks’ in the party, has accused the government of a stance that “smells of appeasement”.
It comes as the White House revealed that US vice president Kamala Harris will attend the UK summit at Bletchley Park.
In a major speech ahead of the gathering Mr Sunak warned of the risks posed by AI – including of terrorists using the technology to make bioweapons and even human extinction.
Defending his move to include China in talks, the PM said: “I know there are some who will say (China) should have been excluded but there can be no serious strategy for AI without at least trying to engage all of the world’s leading AI powers.”
Mr Sunak added: “That might not have been the easy thing to do but it was the right thing to do.” But he conceded that even though they had accepted the invitation: “I can’t say with 100% certainty that China will be there.”
While Chinese officials will take part in day one discussions on Thursday, they will not be invited to day two meetings involving like-minded countries. Mr Sunak will convene a small group of companies and experts, while science secretary Michelle Donelan will lead ministerial meetings on the second day.
Despite Mr Duncan Smith’s view that the decision to invite China was “astonishing” – arguing that “engaging with them only makes us look weak” – some China hawks welcomed the idea of Beijing officials being at Bletchley Park.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Rishi Sunak
(Getty/PA)
Senior Tory MP Bob Seeley, who has pushed for a tougher stance on Beijing, told The Independent: “It’s broadly good news that [Mr Sunak] has invited China.”
The foreign affairs select committee member said: “It poses a risk that China will see what everyone is up to, and then do their own thing. But you don’t want them to shut them out of the conversation before the conversation has started. There is always the hope that China will change.”
Mr Seeley added: “The worst case for society will be used by bad rulers to effectively analyse dissent before it happens and make opposition to dictatorial regimes impossible – just like George Orwell predicted. So there’s a risk China will abuse it.”
“There will be an open society approach, a closed society – and the battle will be for countries in the middle, like countries India, the Middle East and south America.”
The US vice president will attend the UK summit at Bletchley Park. Ms Harris will deliver a speech outlining the administration’s approach to AI on Wednesday, 1 November, the day before the summit kicks off.
Asked if the Biden administration could distract from UK conference, Mr Sunak’s official spokesman. “It’s right that we work collaboratively with the US on this … that is entirely right.”
The summit will take place next week at the home of the celebrated Second World War codebreakers.
Earlier, Mr Sunak’s deputy Oliver Dowden had said that ministers would await and see whether Chinese officials actually came to the UK for the meeting.
“It is the case that you wait and see who actually turns up at these events,” he said, although he added: “We do expect them to come.”
Since he took over at No 10 a year ago, Mr Sunak has adopted a softer approach to China than his predecessor Liz Truss.
She had been preparing to label Beijing a “threat” to the UK before she was ousted from office. Mr Sunak has instead described China as an “epoch-defining challenge”.