Britain to seek deeper relationships with Asia, other parts of the world: Foreign Secretary - 南华早报

Britain will seek to establish deeper relationships with traditionally non-aligned countries in Asia and other parts of the world and take a longer-term view of diplomacy as it faces a “multi-decade competition” to protect the values that have led to peace and prosperity globally, said British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly.

In his first major speech since becoming Foreign Secretary in September, Cleverly said countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America will play a much larger role in the world economy in the coming decades and will decide if today’s international order endures.

“We have to recognise that the UK’s future influence will depend on persuading and winning over a far broader array of countries,” Cleverly said in a speech at the Foreign Office in snowy London on Monday.

“Our job is to make our case and earn their support, investing in relationships based on patient diplomacy, on respect, on solidarity and on a willingness to listen. This isn’t about dictating or telling others what to do. We want to balance the mutually beneficial relationship based on shared interest and common principles.”

Britain needs to learn from its competitors and take a multi-year approach, thinking 10 years, 20 years or more ahead, Cleverly said.

“In the past, I think we have been too transactional and too impatient,” he said.

The speech comes two weeks after British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called for Britain to “evolve” its policy approach to China and recognise it poses a “systemic challenge” to Britain’s values and interests.

Since taking office in October, Sunak’s government has stressed the need to build bigger ties in the Indo-Pacific, including plans to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), forging new trade agreements with India and Indonesia, strengthening its Aukus security pact with the United States and Australia and co-developing a future combat fighter jet with Japan and Italy.

At the same time, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine this year underscored the importance of defensive alliances, such as Nato, Cleverly said.

“They help countries to protect themselves from aggressors. When powerful states like China reject defensive alliances as block politics, they either misunderstand the desire of every nation to live in peace without aggression or they perhaps fire a signal of intent, especially chilling from a country militarising at a pace the world has rarely seen before,” he said.

Despite recent political uncertainty that has seen three prime ministers in Britain since early September, Cleverly said Britain’s political, business and legal institutions are viewed globally as “incredibly robust and reliable”.

“We can’t just hang onto the comfort blanket of our pre-existing relationships and alliances. We need to work. We need to graft. We need to make sure that we’re having conversations with those countries that are also being wooed by other philosophies,” he said.

“We need to be salespeople, to sell the benefits of the points that I raised about subscription to international law, about using peaceful mechanisms for dispute resolution, about moving in a direction that embraces human rights and diversity, the things that are the foundation stones or our political philosophy,” he said.

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