LONDON: Britain has shifted its focus back to Euro-Atlantic ties in a major refresh of its Integrated Review in the face of increased threats from Russia and China plus threats to free and open and societies worldwide.
The Integrated Review Refresh (IRR) 2023, presented to the House of Commons on Monday, states that the UK is in a period of heightened risk and volatility that is likely to last beyond the 2030s. “The primacy of the Bretton Woods institutions is being eroded, and the use of economic coercion is growing,” the report notes.
“The security and prosperity of the Euro-Atlantic will remain our core priority, bolstered by a reinvigoration of our European relationships,” UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wrote in the foreword to the IRR, which sets the UK’s overarching national security and international strategy. “China poses an epoch-defining challenge to the type of international order we want to see, both in terms of security and values,” he added.
The IRR2023 is a refresh of the first Integrated Review brought out in 2021, when the UK announced its Indo-Pacific tilt.
“I am proud that the UK has delivered the ambition we set for the Indo-Pacific tilt… But what could not be fully foreseen in 2021 was the pace of the geopolitical change,” Sunak said, citing Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, the weaponisation of energy and food supplies and irresponsible nuclear rhetoric, combined with China’s more aggressive stance in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait. “These are threatening to create a world defined by danger, disorder and division — and an international order more favourable to authoritarianism,” he wrote, noting also the risk of terrorism and organised crime emanating from the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
The report states that the UK will, however, continue to prioritise the Indo-Pacific. “Developments there will have disproportionate influence on the global economy, supply chains, strategic stability and norms of state behaviour. Having delivered the original IR ambition for a ‘tilt’, we will put our approach to the Indo-Pacific on a long-term strategic footing, making the region a permanent pillar of the UK’s international policy,” the report states. “A core tenet of the UK’s approach in the Indo-Pacific will be to support the vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific shared by many regional partners,” it says.
The report notes that tensions in the Indo-Pacific are increasing and conflict there “could have global consequences greater than the conflict in Ukraine”.
“The CCP is increasingly explicit in its aim to shape a China-centric international order more favourable to its authoritarian system, and pursuing this ambition through a wide-ranging strategy – shaping global governance in ways that undermine individual rights and freedoms, and pursuing coercive practices. China’s deepening partnership with Russia and Russia’s growing cooperation with Iran in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine are two developments of particular concern,” the report states.
Sunak on Monday announced doubling UK funding to build expertise across the UK government and British embassies on China. This will include training civil servants on Chinese economic and military policy as well as Mandarin language skills. Universities will be given the tools they need to deal with interference and threats to academic freedom.
A growing coalescence amongstlike-minded allies and partners is translating into a new network of “Atlantic-Pacific” partnerships, based on a shared view that the prosperity and security of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific are inextricably linked, the report notes. “This is seen in the growing importance of the G7, closer cooperation of countries such as Australia, the Republic of Korea and India with G7 countries, and the commitment of many Indo-Pacific countries to supporting Ukraine’s self-defence,” it states.
The report says the UK supports reform of the UN Security Council (UNSC) and would welcome Brazil, India, Japan and Germany as permanent members.
The Integrated Review Refresh (IRR) 2023, presented to the House of Commons on Monday, states that the UK is in a period of heightened risk and volatility that is likely to last beyond the 2030s. “The primacy of the Bretton Woods institutions is being eroded, and the use of economic coercion is growing,” the report notes.
“The security and prosperity of the Euro-Atlantic will remain our core priority, bolstered by a reinvigoration of our European relationships,” UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wrote in the foreword to the IRR, which sets the UK’s overarching national security and international strategy. “China poses an epoch-defining challenge to the type of international order we want to see, both in terms of security and values,” he added.
The IRR2023 is a refresh of the first Integrated Review brought out in 2021, when the UK announced its Indo-Pacific tilt.
“I am proud that the UK has delivered the ambition we set for the Indo-Pacific tilt… But what could not be fully foreseen in 2021 was the pace of the geopolitical change,” Sunak said, citing Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, the weaponisation of energy and food supplies and irresponsible nuclear rhetoric, combined with China’s more aggressive stance in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait. “These are threatening to create a world defined by danger, disorder and division — and an international order more favourable to authoritarianism,” he wrote, noting also the risk of terrorism and organised crime emanating from the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.
The report states that the UK will, however, continue to prioritise the Indo-Pacific. “Developments there will have disproportionate influence on the global economy, supply chains, strategic stability and norms of state behaviour. Having delivered the original IR ambition for a ‘tilt’, we will put our approach to the Indo-Pacific on a long-term strategic footing, making the region a permanent pillar of the UK’s international policy,” the report states. “A core tenet of the UK’s approach in the Indo-Pacific will be to support the vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific shared by many regional partners,” it says.
The report notes that tensions in the Indo-Pacific are increasing and conflict there “could have global consequences greater than the conflict in Ukraine”.
“The CCP is increasingly explicit in its aim to shape a China-centric international order more favourable to its authoritarian system, and pursuing this ambition through a wide-ranging strategy – shaping global governance in ways that undermine individual rights and freedoms, and pursuing coercive practices. China’s deepening partnership with Russia and Russia’s growing cooperation with Iran in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine are two developments of particular concern,” the report states.
Sunak on Monday announced doubling UK funding to build expertise across the UK government and British embassies on China. This will include training civil servants on Chinese economic and military policy as well as Mandarin language skills. Universities will be given the tools they need to deal with interference and threats to academic freedom.
A growing coalescence amongstlike-minded allies and partners is translating into a new network of “Atlantic-Pacific” partnerships, based on a shared view that the prosperity and security of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific are inextricably linked, the report notes. “This is seen in the growing importance of the G7, closer cooperation of countries such as Australia, the Republic of Korea and India with G7 countries, and the commitment of many Indo-Pacific countries to supporting Ukraine’s self-defence,” it states.
The report says the UK supports reform of the UN Security Council (UNSC) and would welcome Brazil, India, Japan and Germany as permanent members.