HSBC Executive Slams ‘Weak’ UK for Backing US Against China
- Ex-British diplomat says at closed-door event: UK is ‘weak’
- Cowper-Coles says remarks were made in personal capacity
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HSBC Holdings Plc’s head of public affairs criticized the US for strong-arming the UK into cutting back business dealings with China and accused the British government of being “weak” for going along with it.
Sherard Cowper-Coles told attendants at a closed-door event in London in June that the UK would often bow to the demands of Washington and shouldn’t blindly follow the US but look after its own interests, according to several people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the event was private.