UK says Russia & China creating “danger, turmoil, division” in the world

According to an update to the UK’s strategic foreign and defense policy blueprint, the UK regards China as an “era challenge” to the global order and believes that the security of the UK and Europe depends on Russia’s failure to succeed in its war on Ukraine.

The UK emphasises the difficulties faced by China and its expanding alliance with Russia, as well as Moscow’s expanding cooperation with Iran, in a “refresh” to the Integrated Review (IR) strategy paper. The 63-page assessment, which was unveiled on Monday, emphasises the systematic and existential threat that both countries offer to the UK, Europe, and the larger rules-based international order. It also toughens the UK’s language and attitude toward Beijing and Moscow.

Tuesday, in response to the UK allegations, Chinese official media issued warnings that the “continuous misrepresentation” of China as a threat by London would be detrimental to bilateral relations.

While the UK assessment for 2021 had already highlighted Russia as the “most severe danger to the UK’s security,” the most recent review says that the outcome of Moscow’s war on Ukraine and “denying Russia any strategic benefit from its invasion” are now tied to the UK and Europe’s collective security.

Rishi Sunak, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, wrote in the foreword to the review, “Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, weaponization of energy and food supplies, and reckless nuclear rhetoric, combined with China’s more assertive stance in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, are threatening to create a world defined by danger, disorder, and division.