https://www.theguardian.com/politics...on-report-says
UK should tilt foreign policy to Indo-Pacific region, report says
Thr UK should make a major post-Brexit tilt towards the Indo-Pacific region, ploughing military, financial and diplomatic resources into building a major democratic counterweight to China’s growing threat to the post-1945 world order, a major report urges.
The report, prepared by a group of UK politicians for the right of centre thinktank Policy Exchange, and endorsed by the former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, represents a key shift in UK foreign policy thinking.
The UK and the EU have agreed on the need for a new role for Britain dedicated to helping the countries of the Indo-Pacific area stand up to Beijing by upholding democracy, free trade supported by open seas and an uncensored internet.
The report is deliberately framed as an attempt to carve out “the essence of a manifesto of what a global Britain looks like in the 2020s and beyond”.
Requiring a major shift in resources – in part enabled by last week’s rise in defence spending and the summer merger of the UK’s foreign and aid budgets – the proposals would set the UK up as a country committed to challenging China’s authoritarian model. It proposes the Indo-Pacific countries commit to a 21st century charter for democracy akin to the Atlantic charter signed by the UK and the US in 1941.
In a region accounting for close to half of global economic output and more than half the world’s population, the report envisages the UK working closely with allies such as Australia, India, Japan, South Korea and
Taiwan.
Overseen by Stephen Harper, the former Canadian prime minister, it will also receive support from the current Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison.......
As part of the tilt, the UK would apply for membership of the regional free trade partnership, seek to join the existing US, India, Australia and Japan security dialogue and enhance its military capacity in bases such as Diego Garcia.
“The UK government should expand the deployment of Royal Navy assets, RAF aircraft and Army (including Special Forces)/Royal Marines personnel to achieve uninterrupted, year-round UK military presence in the IPR (both on operational and training missions).”".........
In the case of Hong Kong, the report proposes that sanctions are now imposed on to Chinese Communist party officials for their role in the destruction of the territory’s sovereignty.
In a move that would further antagonise China, the report suggests the UK should start normalising relations with Taiwan, especially on global issues such as cyber security and health.