An influential Chinese newspaper broke Beijing's Brexit silence on Thursday, saying the United Kingdom will lose global influence if it ditches the European Union.
"If Britain votes to leave, it will become an Atlantic orphan and lose its special relationship with the EU," wrote the Global Times, a daily newspaper affiliated with the Communist Party. "In this circumstance, its special relationship with the U.S. will become more notable, but it may mean less to the U.S."
Coming on the heels of Scotland's independence referendum of September 2014, the U.K. "looks like it has been led astray, and this concerns Europe and the world," the newspaper said in its opinion piece.
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