At a time of heightened international insecurities and fractured global relations, the need to actively engage with China and to understand its ambitions and values, argues Kerry Brown, remains as strong as ever. Talking to China re-examines the UK's relationship with China and considers how colonial legacies and ever-changing policies of indifference, engagement, and hostility, have all contributed to a confused and poorly though-out relationship with the world's leading manufacturer and trading nation. It is time for the UK to reset its relations with China and recognize that active independent engagement is likely to better serve its interests that policies based on rivalry and suspicion. Kerry Brown is Professor of Chinese Studies and Director of the Lau China Institute at King's College London. He has worked at the British Foreign and commonwealth Office, including three years at the British embassy in Beijing. He is the author of over twenty books on the politics of modern China.