UK boosts security spending against China and Russia threats

UK boosts security spending against China and Russia threats
by AFP Staff Writers
London (AFP) March 13, 2023

Britain on Monday detailed plans to bolster military and security spending to confront the "epoch-defining challenge" posed by China while also countering Russia, as London updated its strategic foreign and defence policy.

In a "refresh" of the so-called Integrated Review, the UK government identified "the threat posed by Russia to European security" as the most pressing short- to medium-term priority.

But the 63-page report -- compiled after months of work across government -- also labelled China a "systemic challenge with implications for almost every area of government policy".

"We cannot be blind to the increasingly aggressive military and economic behaviour of the Chinese Communist Party," Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said, as he unveiled the updated review to parliament.

Britain's top diplomat added Beijing was "stoking tensions" with Taiwan -- the self-governing island which China considers its territory -- and trying to "strong-arm" other countries.

Responding to the threats requires stepped up defence and national security spending, both now and in the future, the review concluded.

It includes plans to spend an extra 5 billion pounds ($6 billion) on defence over the next two years, focused on nuclear resilience and replenishing depleted ammunition stocks.

It also restated an ambition to dedicate 2.5 percent of annual GDP spending to defence, up on the UK's current 2.2 percent spending in the policy area.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the move and the Integrated Review, noting he had discussed it with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

"It reconfirms (the) UK's commitment to security & defence, and its vital role in NATO," he tweeted, adding the country "continues to lead by example".

- 'Push back' -

London last updated its strategic policy portfolio two years ago, in what was billed as the most comprehensive overhaul since the Cold War era and as part of a recalibration of its post-Brexit world view.

Although it branded Russia the "most acute direct threat to the UK", the report then also announced a much-heralded pivot in focus towards Asia to counter China's growing threat.

Despite the subsequent Russian invasion of Ukraine, the government assessed those fundamentals have not changed, but that the response to them needed to "evolve".

"China poses an epoch-defining challenge to the type of international order we want to see, both in terms of security and values -- and so our approach must evolve," Sunak wrote in the review's foreword.

He added Britain would work with Beijing on shared priorities such as combating climate change but pledged to "push back" alongside allies against its attempts to "coerce or create dependencies".

"And we are taking new action to protect ourselves, our democracy and our economy at home," Sunak noted.

That will see several existing agencies revamped, including creating a new 1 billion pounds "integrated security fund" and a National Protective Security Authority to improve resilience of critical infrastructure.

Ministers will also double funding on skills and knowledge on China for government staff, including on Mandarin language skills.

The BBC World Service will get a 20 million pounds funding boost to protect its dozens of language services over the next two years and "support English language broadcasting and counter disinformation".