Rishi Sunak: China represents challenge to world order
Published
4 hours ago
By Becky Morton Political reporter
China "represents a challenge to the world order" which the UK must take
seriously, Rishi Sunak has said.
The prime minister told the BBC he was increasing funding for the armed
forces because "the world has become more volatile" and "threats to our
security have increased".
Defence spending will rise by nearly ￡5bn over the next two years.
But No 10 has given no timeframe for a longer term ambition to boost
spending to 2.5% of national income.
Mr Sunak was speaking in California, where he held talks with his US and
Australian counterparts to agree details of a UK-US pact to supply Australia
with nuclear-powered submarines.
The agreement, known as the Aukus pact, was signed in 2021 as part of a
joint effort to counter Chinese military power in the Indo-Pacific region.
Sunak unveils ￡5bn extra defence funds on US trip
Ben Wallace: We need to invest in defence properly
Mr Sunak said in a press conference to mark the pact that the Aukus
partnership would deliver "one of the most advanced" submarines "the world
has ever known", creating thousands of jobs in British shipyards.
The new SSN-Aukus submarines will also be used by the UK, and will be in
operation for the Royal Navy by the late 2030s under the plan.
The boats will replace the UK's seven Astute-class subs.
The UK's submarines will mainly be built by BAE Systems at Barrow-in-Furness,
Cumbria, and Rolls-Royce, with the US sharing sensitive technology for the
project.
Australia's boats will be built in South Australia, using some components
manufactured in the UK, and will be in service in the early 2040s.
Mr Sunak said: "The Aukus partnership, and the submarines we are building in
British shipyards, are a tangible demonstration of our commitment to global
security.
"This partnership was founded on the bedrock of our shared values and
resolute focus on upholding stability in the Indo-Pacific and beyond."
'Another hollow promise'
Earlier, in an interview with the BBC's Chris Mason, Mr Sunak said: "China
is a country with fundamentally different values to ours and it represents a
challenge to the world order.
"And that's why it's right that we are alert to that and take steps to
protect ourselves… stand up for our values and protect our interests."
He said the government took the "challenge" posed by China seriously, adding
that the UK had taken action including blocking Chinese investment in
sensitive sectors like semiconductors.
Pressed on whether the ambition to increase defence spending to 2.5% of
national income was meaningless without a timeframe, the prime minister
said the government should be judged "on our actions".
As chancellor, Mr Sunak said he had overseen the largest uplift in defence
spending since the end of the Cold War and the government had increased
spending every year since then.
"We're one of the largest spenders on defence anywhere in the world, the
largest in Europe, and that will continue to remain the case," he added.
However, Labour pointed out that defence spending had not hit 2.5% of GDP
since it left government in 2010. The UK currently aims to spend 2% of GDP on
defence each year, latest figures show.
Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy described the ambition as "another
hollow promise", with "no plan and no timetable".
Some Tory MPs have also expressed concern about the level of investment in
the armed forces.
Tobias Ellwood, who is chairman of the Commons Defence Committee, said the UK
was on a "peacetime budget" as the world was "sliding towards a new Cold War".
While Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has publicly welcomed the extra ￡5bn
announced by the prime minister, he had been hoping for considerably more.
There had been reports - denied by Mr Wallace - that he had threatened to
resign if he did not get a commitment to increase defence spending to 3% of
GDP by 2030.
Mr Wallace told the Commons he was "not interested" in resigning, although he
added that he was worried about the increased threats facing the UK and
long-term investment was needed.
2px presentational grey line
Analysis box by Chris Mason, political editor
Hulking floating airports, aircraft carriers, dominate the shoreline on the
Pacific Coast of the United States, where there is a gathering of what's
known as the Aukus pact: Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom,
keeping a collectively nervous eye on an increasingly muscular China.
Privately, the government is stark in its assessments.
Western democracies are comparatively and collectively weaker economically as
China grows; Beijing can use every instrument of the state as a tool of
foreign policy in a way that's impossible in an open democracy.
All the data make us more concerned, not less, as one senior figure put it.
The review of foreign and defence policy, which has just been published, says
the UK is committed to "swift and robust action" to counter any threat to UK
national interests from China.
2px presentational grey line
Mr Sunak was also asked whether Chinese-owned social media app TikTok should
be banned on all government phones.
It comes after the Sunday Times reported experts at GCHQ's National Cyber
Security Centre had identified risks to sensitive information from the app
and could issue advice to ministers and civil servants.
The prime minister refused to comment directly but said "we take the security
of devices seriously and we look also at what our allies are doing".
The US government and the European Commission have already taken steps to ban
TikTok on the phones of staff members.
'Overdue'
The government has set out its plans for foreign and defence policy in an new
version of the so-called Integrated Review.
The update was ordered by then-Prime Minister Liz Truss in September last
year to take account of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The review identified Russia as "the most pressing national security and
foreign policy priority in the short-to-medium term".
But it also describes China under Communist Party rule as an "epoch-defining
and systemic challenge... across almost every aspect of national life and
government policy".
It says the government will engage "constructively" with Beijing on shared
priorities but where the Chinese government's actions threaten the UK's
interests "we will take swift and robust action to protect them".
Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who is among the Tory MPs
calling for the government to take a tougher line on China, said he was
"confused" about what the government's position was.
"Does that now mean that China is a threat or an epoch-defining challenge or
a challenging government epoch or none of that?" he asked in the Commons.
Mr Lammy said the updated review was "overdue" but welcome.
"The initiative to improve understanding of China in government is vital,
particularly given the Foreign Office has only been training 14 people a year
to speak fluent Mandarin," he added.
心得：
英国卖了七艘潜艇给澳洲
英国与澳洲政府表示 预期自己国防开支将达到其GDP2.5%
中国目前国防开支 占GDP2%
台湾 占GDP2.36%
China "represents a challenge to the world order" which the UK must take
seriously, Rishi Sunak has said.
Mr Sunak said: "China is a country with fundamentally different values
to ours and it represents a challenge to the world order.
英国首相说 中国正在挑战世界的秩序，英国必须认真看待