When the UK, the US and Australia announced the details of their multibillion-dollar deal to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines on Monday, the reaction in China was both outrage and confusion. The allies were “walking further and further down the path of error and danger”, said Wang Wenbin, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, on Tuesday. The Chinese mission to the UN accused the three countries of fuelling an arms race. The deal, which will provide Australia with at least three nuclear-powered submarines, is designed to counter the rising threat of China…
Tag: Foreign policy
China’s world view: Inside the 17 March Guardian Weekly
In his closing speech at China’s annual parliamentary meeting on Monday, Xi Jinping, the country’s most powerful leader in generations, had an ominous message for his people and for those listening beyond its borders. “After a century of struggle, our national humiliation has been erased … the Chinese nation’s great revival is on an irreversible path,” he warned. The abrasive tone of much of the rhetoric coming out of Beijing last week may have dashed the hopes of those in the west who had hoped for a softening of mood…
UK quietly shifts China policy as trust between countries erodes
While Britain’s conflict with Russia is playing out on the battlefield of Ukraine, escalating tensions between London and Beijing are largely unfolding a little more discreetly at home: in universities, among researchers and in hi-tech and other strategic businesses. It may not be a high-profile drama of poisonings and deadly weapons supply, but hundreds of Chinese researchers have been turned away from British projects over the last couple of years, as trust between the two countries has been eroded. A further 50 researchers, already in the UK, have also been…
China says Aukus submarines deal embarks on ‘path of error and danger’
China has accused the US, UK and Australia of embarking on a “path of error and danger” in response to the Aukus partners’ announcement of a deal on nuclear-powered submarines. “The latest joint statement from the US, UK and Australia demonstrates that the three countries, for the sake of their own geopolitical interests, completely disregard the concerns of the international communities and are walking further and further down the path of error and danger,” China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said during a regular press briefing on Tuesday. The multibillion-dollar…
Size of UK’s nuclear submarine fleet could double under Aukus plans
The UK’s nuclear-powered submarine fleet could double in size as plans were revealed for the new “Aukus” vessels to be based on a British design. In a bid to counter the growing threat from China, the UK’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, vowed alongside his US and Australian counterparts to stand “shoulder to shoulder” to protect peace in the Indo-Pacific given its implications for security across the world. A “historic” deal 18 months in the making was announced by the three leaders in Point Loma, San Diego, that will see new…
Rishi Sunak unveils £5bn extra defence spending ahead of US Aukus summit – UK politics live
From 3h ago Rishi Sunak unveils £5bn extra defence spending ahead of Aukus summit in US Good morning. Rishi Sunak is in San Diego, California, where today he will meet Joe Biden, the US president, and Anthony Albanese, the Australian prime minister, for an Aukus meeting. Aukus is the Australia/US/UK security pact, primarily focused on providing Australia with nuclear-powered submarine capacity. It was set up when Boris Johnson was prime minister, and now provides him with the material for one of his most over-used jokes. The meeting will coincide with…
Sunak heads to US to unveil latest news on Australian nuclear sub deal
Rishi Sunak will fly to San Diego on Sunday to unveil plans for supplying Australia with nuclear-powered submarines under the Aukus scheme amid concerns about the growing threat from China. A major announcement 18 months in the making is expected when the UK prime minister meets his Australian counterpart, Anthony Albanese, and US president Joe Biden. In response to concerns about Beijing’s economic coercion and foreign policy aims, the UK’s defence and security strategy for the 2020s is being updated, and the revised version is due to be published on…
Chinese peace plan for Ukraine greeted cautiously by the west
Western leaders have reacted nervously to a Chinese peace plan for Ukraine due to be revealed this week, but cautiously welcomed the move as a first sign that China recognises the war cannot be regarded solely as a European affair. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, China’s senior diplomat Wang Yi, one of the few external politicians able to influence Russia, announced that China would launch its peace initiative on the anniversary of the war, and has already been consulting Germany, Italy and France on its proposals. He said the…
Liz Truss’s delusional speech about China is digging the trenches of a second cold war | Simon Tisdall
There is a serious, calm and thoughtful discussion to be had about the western democracies’ future security and economic relationship with China, and it is under way in Washington and European capitals. Judging by her confrontational, attention-seeking speech in Tokyo today, Britain’s disgraced former prime minister Liz Truss is not part of it. Truss, short of new ideas and insights, has defaulted to crowd-pleasing, hawkish positions that appear principally designed to facilitate a domestic political comeback at Rishi Sunak’s expense. A “totalitarian” China, she says, poses a global threat to…
Truss to call for tough sanctions against China if it escalates Taiwan tensions
Britain and the rest of the G7 should urgently agree a tough package of sanctions to impose on China if it escalates military tensions with Taiwan, Liz Truss will argue, as she uses her first public overseas speech to pile pressure on Rishi Sunak. Speaking in Tokyo on Friday, the former prime minister will urge her successor to be more hawkish in standing up to Beijing, warning coordinated action is needed to block “the rise of a totalitarian China” given “the free world is in danger”. Truss is expected to…