UK gave up foreign policy independence by siding with US against China - Expert

"Cutting Huawei out of Britain's 5G infrastructure is a prime example of how the current government is prioritising political games over economic sense," Martinez told Sputnik in an online interview.

He noted that Prime Minister Boris Johnson's recent decision to ban a UK operator from purchasing any of the company’s equipment after the end of this year, and dismantle any 5G kit already installed by 2027, is going to cost the UK economy £7 billion, and will slow down the rollout of 5G by at least two years.

According to Martinez, this major U-turn just six months after approving Huawei's involvement in the development of the mobile network comes at a time when the UK, which is having to redefine its role in the global economy after Brexit, "should be aiming to promote itself as a world leader in the technology sector".

The author of "The End of the Beginning: Lessons of the Soviet Collapse" also pointed out the situation with Huawei has nothing to do with security, just as the overall deterioration in relations between Britain and China, he said, has nothing to do with the big media talking points of Hong Kong, Xinjiang and the coronavirus.

The larger part of the establishment in the US has come to a consensus around developing a so-called "New Cold War" against China - seeing China as a threat, trying to slow down its growth, trying to prevent the emergence of a multipolar system of international relations, Martinez noted.

Although he thinks Britain should not follow Washington on this path, the expert also believes the hard right-wing of the Conservative Party, which he defined a politically ascendant force in the British government, is very close to Trump, and "Atlanticist" in its orientation.

"Insisting on a hard Brexit means that Britain will no longer be in the EU Customs Union or Single Market and is therefore relying on a wide-ranging free trade deal with the US," he stressed.

In his opinion, such economic dependency has brought forth a political and diplomatic dependency, which means that the UK has given up its independence in foreign policy.