George Osborne Warns Brits Not To Talk Of 'Sweatshop' China | HuffPost

'Boris, Don't Talk Of China As a Sweatshop'

Asa Bennett— The Huffington Post UK

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George Osborne has urged Britons to stop the "sweatshop" stereotype of Chinese industry during a visit to the country with Boris Johnson, although the London mayor previously joked about Chinese sweatshops in a national newspaper column.

Speaking on the BBC on Monday morning, the chancellor said: "I think there is a bit of a British attitude which treats China as a sweatshop on the Pearl River.

"One of the things I'm trying to do this week in China is to change British attitudes to China...this is a country that is right at the forefront of medicine and high-tech and computing and high-tech engineering and all of that."

However, Boris Johnson used his Telegraph column during the 2010 general election to dismiss Nick Clegg as "some cut-price edition of David Cameron hastily knocked off by a Shanghai sweatshop to satisfy unexpected market demand".

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Johnson warned in 2005 that people did not need to "fear" the Chinese. "China will not dominate the globe...Chinese cultural influence is virtually nil, and unlikely to increase," he wrote.

Amid concerns about human rights and corruption, Osborne said China was "tackling its own problems" in the "way it thinks is appropriate".

He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that the UK had a "very strict attitude towards corrupt business practices" but "there is a huge crackdown here in Beijing on corruption as well, so the Chinese government understand that's also a problem here that they, in a very high-profile way, want to address".

Johnson had a tougher time answering questions about China on Sunday, refusing five times to answer enquiries about the country's human rights record.

Boris Johnson's Most Cringeworthy Moments

On work(01 of39)

Boris Johnson blamed a prior engagement to wriggle out of a set piece interview on the BBC's Sunday Politics - but was spotted out campaigning. (credit:PA)

On Liverpool(02 of39)

Boris was dispatched to apologise to Liverpudlians in 2004 by then Tory leader Michael Howard to apologise after he accused the city of wallowing in their victim status.He had written in the Spectator: "[They] cannot accept that they might have made any contribution to their misfortunes, but seek rather to blame someone else for it, thereby deepening their sense of shared tribal grievance about the rest of society." (credit:PA)

On Papua New Guineu (03 of39)

Boris went one further, and had to apologise to an entire country after he wrote in the Telegraph in 2008: "For 10 years we in the Tory Party have become used to Papua New Guinea-style orgies of cannibalism and chief-killing."He said in his apology: "I meant no insult to the people of Papua New Guinea who I'm sure lead lives of blameless bourgeois domesticity in common with the rest of us." (credit:PA)

On Portsmouth(04 of39)

He wrote in GQ: "Here we are in one of the most depressed downs in southern England, a place that is arguably too full of drugs, obesity, underachievement and Labour MPs." (credit:PA)

On table tennis(05 of39)

During a visit to China in 2008, Boris said: "Virtually every single one of our international sports were invented or codified by the British. And I say this respectfully to our Chinese hosts, who have excelled so magnificently at Ping-pong. Ping-pong was invented on the dining tables of England in the 19th century and it was called Wiff-waff!" (credit:PA)

On gay marriage(06 of39)

He told the Guardian "If gay marriage was OK - and I was uncertain on the issue - then I saw no reason in principle why a union should not be consecrated between three men, as well as two men; or indeed three men and a dog." (credit:Getty)

Riots(07 of39)

Boris faced criticism for taking four days to return from his holiday during the riots. (credit:PA)

On his affair(08 of39)

A court recently decided that the mayor's affair with art consultant Helen Macintyre, which resulted in the birth of a daughter, was in the public interest.He was also sacked from the front bench in 2004 over reports of an affair that he initially described as "an inverted pyramid of piffle". (credit:PA)

On St Patrick's Day(09 of39)

Boris labelled St Patrick's day 'lefty crap' in an interview with the New Statesman. In response shadow Northern Ireland secretary Vernon Coaker MP, said the comments were "ill-judged, inaccurate and offensive.""The St Patrick's Day celebrations and all the work that Ken Livingstone did as Mayor played an important role in that. Boris Johnson's comments are ill-judged, inaccurate and offensive."But that's not the only time he's insulted one of Britain's regions... (credit:PA)

And to finish...(10 of39)

... here are 28 photos of Boris looking silly

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