The United Kingdom will work with China and at the same time cooperate will allies against any breach Beijing makes against a rules-based international order, according to a key strategic document laying down the country's defense and foreign policies over the next decade.
The 116-page report, "Global Britain in a Competitive Age," issued Tuesday will see the U.K. expand its influence among Indo-Pacific countries in order to put a brake on China's ambitions for global leadership supplanting the United States.
It reveals Prime Minister Boris Johnson's ambition to see the United Kingdom at the forefront of a reinvigorated, rules-based international order based on cooperation and free trade.
"There is no question that China will pose a great challenge to an open society such as ours, but we also work with China where that is consistent with our values and interests including building a strong and positive economic relationship and in addressing climate change," said Johnson to Members of Parliament Tuesday.
"The review describes how we will bolster our alliances, strengthen our capabilities, find new ways of reaching solutions and re-learn the art of competing against states with opposing values."
Johnson also said the U.K. has led the international community in expressing its deep concern over China's mass detention of the Uyghur people and its actions in Hong Kong to clamp down on pro-democracy campaigners.
Johnson's government said it will tilt its focus towards the Indo-Pacific as part of its Integrated Review of government policy for the coming years. He said the Indo-Pacific increasingly represents the new geopolitical center of the world.
The report says "China's increasing power and international assertiveness is likely to be the most significant geopolitical factor of the 2020s." It called China "the biggest state-based threat to the U.K.'s economic security."
It highlights the deployment to the Indo-Pacific and the Middle East in April of the Royal Navy's new flagship, the massive aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth. The initial deployment of the carrier and her carrier strike group will see these warships travel over 20,000 miles to visit the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and test freedom of navigation rights by transiting the South China Sea.
However, the report also said Russia is the biggest challenge for Britain in Europe.
"Russia is the most acute threat in the region and we will work with NATO Allies to ensure a united Western response, combining military, intelligence and diplomatic efforts," said the report, which reaffirmed Britain's nuclear commitment to NATO.
