By Jessica Frank-Keyes
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Chinese posturing over Taiwan risk creating a world “defined by danger, disorder and division”, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has warned today.
Britain is committed to “swift and robust action” to counter any threat to UK national interests from China, according to an updated blueprint for the UK’s foreign and defence policy.
The so-called ‘refreshed’ integrated review (IR23) document says China under Communist Party rule represents an “epoch-defining challenge” to government policy and British lives.
It is an update to former PM Boris Johnson’s original review in response to war in Ukraine – and comes alongside a pledge to bolster defence spending by £5bn over the next two years.
Some £3bn will go on defensive nuclear abilities and almost £2bn will boost arms stockpiles.
The review states that the UK will continue to “engage constructively” with Chinese leaders, firms and citizens and to “cooperate on shared priorities”.
But it also notes that “wherever the Chinese Communist Party’s actions and stated intent threaten the UK’s interests, we will take swift and robust action to protect them.”
Sunak wrote in the foreword to the review: “China poses an epoch-defining challenge to the type of international order we want to see… and so our approach must evolve.”
The review was unveiled as the prime minister visited San Diego, California, for a trilateral summit with the US and Australia as part of the AUKUS project on nuclear submarines.
Language in the document does not define China as a ‘threat’ in a move which will likely lead to criticism from hawks in the Tory party, after ex-PM Liz Truss had been expected to officially re-designate China as a “threat” during her short-lived premiership.
Sunak has since dialled down his own rhetoric on Beijing after previously dubbing the Chinese state the “biggest-long term threat to Britain”.
Speaking in the Commons, foreign secretary James Cleverly said “severe global turbulence” had come to pass since the previous review’s publication.
“Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and attempts to annex part of its sovereign territory challenge the entire international order,” he told MPs.
But he added: “On every continent of the world, the United Kingdom walks taller today than it has done for many years.”
Labour’s shadow defence secretary said the Conservatives had “failed to secure Britain’s national defence for the future”.
John Healey said the report did not address “concerns over critical capabilities” and pledged his party would publish a defence and security review within their first year in government.
Evie Aspinall, senior researcher at the British Foreign Policy Group (BFPG), told CityAM the refresh “shows a growing depth of understanding of the complexities of the UK’s relationship with China and strikes the fine balance of enabling cooperation while protecting national security”.
She said: “The release of the refresh to coincide with the AUKUS summit highlights the ongoing importance of the Indo-Pacific in UK foreign policy and with Labour also advocating for a shift towards the Indo-Pacific it is clear that the UK’s sharpening focus on the region is here to stay.”
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