The UK needs to be wary about its relations with China as Beijing embarks on a new cold war, a former Australian prime minister and government trade adviser has warned. Tony Abbott, a member of the Board of Trade, said the Asian economic powerhouse was weaponising trade and urged Britain to guard against selling key businesses to the Chinese or even collaborating at a higher education level. In a speech delivered at an event hosted by think tank Policy Exchange, Abbott said: “After 40 years of bide and hide, China is asserting itself aggressively in what is at best a cold peace and more likely a new cold war, only against a strategic competitor that is far more formidable than the old Soviet Union because it is being increasing embedded inside the global economy and can bring economic as well as military pressure to bear against its targets. “Barring a …