Britain’s newest ambassador to China has been accused of being too sympathetic to the communist regime after a photo showed her holding a book written by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Caroline Wilson, who will represent Britain in Beijing starting this month, met with China’s ambassador to the United Kingdom Liu Xiaoming last Wednesday. Liu presented Wilson with “The Governance of China,” a collection of Xi’s writing and speeches, and the two posed for a photo while holding the volume.

Wilson tweeted the photo after the meeting, adding: “We can and must work for ambitious U.K.-China collaboration, on climate, health, trade, engaging on trickier topics too. I look forward to supporting a mature, positive U.K.-China relationship, in line with U.K. values.”

Liu wrote on Twitter after the meeting that the relationship between China and the U.K. was at a “critical juncture.”

“As long as the basic principles governing international relations are observed, including respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-interference in each other’s internal affair[s], equality and mutual benefit, I am confident we can overcome the current difficulties and bring the relationship back on [the] right track,” he wrote.

Wilson’s social media account was later flooded with negative comments, with some users asking if she endorsed Xi’s doctrines, and whether she would be able to uphold the U.K.'s values.

There was a danger that Wilson would advocate China’s policies in London, instead of promoting British interests in Beijing, Clive Hamilton, a professor of public ethics in Australia, told Voice of America.

“The foreign policy establishment is lagging [behind] the political shift that has taken place in Britain this year. It has yet to wake up to the [Communist Party of China]'s ambitions and ruthless modus operandi,” Hamilton said.

Roger Garside, a former British diplomat who served twice in Beijing, said he was “appalled” by Wilson’s move, telling VOA that it went beyond “anything I have witnessed from a British diplomat” and that the outrage generated by the tweet was “well-deserved.”

The British Foreign Office defended Wilson’s tweet last Friday, saying that the U.K. will maintain its “policy of engagement” with China and will stay consistent despite difficulties.

“We must have a calibrated approach and use engagement to raise matters on which the U.K. cannot agree or compromise with China, including on human rights and Hong Kong,” the spokesperson said.

Wilson previously served as Britain’s Consul General to Hong Kong and Macau from 2012 to 2016, and is fluent in Mandarin. She met with five pro-democracy lawmakers in 2014 and publicly expressed support for universal suffrage in Hong Kong.

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