UK Cannot Be Strategically Dependent on China: Foreign Secretary

Britain cannot go strategically babelike connected China and indispensable enactment with “reliable partners” connected its captious nationalist infrastructure, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has said.

Truss, who replaced Dominic Raab arsenic UK overseas caput successful a reshuffle past month, is presently connected a sojourn to India to sermon information and defence links with the South Asian giant.

In an interrogation with The Telegraph, Truss said that Britain volition proceed to commercialized with China, “but it’s important that we don’t go strategically dependent.”

Asked astir the engagement of Chinese state-owned companies successful UK atomic powerfulness plants, Truss said: “I deliberation it’s precise important that we don’t go strategically babelike and I deliberation it’s important that we marque definite that we’re working, peculiarly successful areas of captious nationalist infrastructure, with reliable partners.”

“There are different areas similar quantum, artificial intelligence, cyber information wherever we request to marque definite the partners we’re innovating with are reliable and determination is simply a enslaved of spot there,” she was quoted arsenic saying.

Truss besides stressed the value of diverseness successful the UK’s proviso chains for pharmaceutical products, which she said was highlighted during the COVID-19 pandemic that was caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus.

She said the UK needs to “build a web of liberty astir the satellite with like-minded partners.”

“We’re winning the conflict for economical power for those countries that judge successful escaped enterprise, that judge successful democracy, arsenic opposed to non-market economies which see China,” she said.

On the last time of her two-day sojourn to India, Truss volition circuit the Royal Navy craft bearer HMS Queen Elizabeth, which is taking portion successful a bid of exercises with the Indian military.

It is portion of the bearer onslaught group’s deployment to the Indo-Pacific amid heightened tensions with China successful the region.

The Foreign Office said Truss would beryllium seeking to instrumentality guardant enactment connected the associated 2030 Roadmap agreed earlier this twelvemonth by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi connected maritime security, cyber security, and antagonistic terrorism.

It reflects the increasing “tilt” towards the Indo-Pacific acceptable retired successful the UK government’s Integrated Review of overseas and defence policy.

“Closer defence and information partnerships betwixt the UK and India underpin deeper economical ties and marque some countries, arsenic good arsenic the wider region, safer,” Truss said successful a statement. “We request to support our oversea and commercialized routes and, operating from a presumption of strength, beryllium hard-headed successful defending our interests and challenging unfair practices.”

PA contributed to this report.