PRIME Minister Rishi Sunak is right – China is creating a world of “danger, division and disorder”.
It really is a threat to our interests, perhaps the greatest state threat.
Led by President Xi Jinping, China’s aim is to wreak havoc by tearing up the rule book that governs the rest of the world.
These conventions include free trade, freedom of navigation, freedom of the seas, international law and proper commercial relations between free societies.
Established 300 years ago by maritime nations, the Dutch, the British and then the Americas, the rules have served us well.
Today, China – and Russia – act like Germany, Italy and Japan in the 1930s.
These are what we call revisionist powers, they want to change the order of the world to tip things in their favour.
Last month, the former head of MI6, Sir Alex Younger, warned that the UK needed to “wake up” to the threat China poses to global security.
Malicious intent
He is already waging a subtle war on us, in which we are all complicit to some degree.
The Chinese collect intelligence on an industrial scale.
We don’t know what they do with it, but they suck while assuming they’ll somehow find a way to use it.
Even your children are not immune to this wealth of data.
We all now know that video-sharing site TikTok is potentially harvesting our data (no wonder Sunak has hinted that it might be banned on government devices – it’s already happening in the US).
Another front is believed to be the use of drones, the ones you buy at your local computer store and the ones your kids play with in the garden.
These Chinese-made devices could become data mines.
When you update their software, any information collected may be transmitted directly to Shanghai.
This can include photos of your neighbor’s garden and everything can be sifted through with modern AI techniques.
Thus, information about UK streets and infrastructure has the potential to be collected and stored.
Whether they can use all of this, we don’t know, but any intent to collect it suggests potentially malicious intent.
In 2017, China passed its National Security Law which states that every Chinese company, entity and citizen can be coerced into assisting its intelligence services.
So any Chinese student studying at university here, for example, can be invited to come to the Chinese Embassy for a little chat.
They are legally required to say who their friends are, what they do and who they meet.
So China is collecting all the information it can about the rest of us.
We have to be prepared for whatever it may become.
This is why the so-called AUKUS pact signed this week between Britain, the United States and Australia is a bold statement of intent by the three allies.
On Monday, the Prime Minister was in San Diego alongside President Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to welcome the deal.
From 2027, the UK and US will base nuclear-powered submarines in Perth, Western Australia.
Later, the Australians will have their own fleet of submarines using British and American know-how.
Next, the UK will also add a new class of nuclear-powered submarines to its navy, SSN-Aukus.
The message to China is clear: we are not afraid of you.
It’s a big military step and counteracts the fact that China is trying to dominate the whole Pacific region.
The increase in sea power – and the tilt towards the Indo-Pacific – makes perfect sense for Britain.
Over the next two decades, 90% of world trade growth will take place in Asia.
AUKUS stands for long-term strategic thinking.
The pact brings back to the 2040s the idea that Britain, Australia and America should jointly deploy some of their submarine forces to counter Chinese expansion across the Pacific.
I thank former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak for seizing the opportunity to sign this agreement.
This is good news for Britain in almost every way. This is a big project for the industry.
Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems, based in Derby, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, will do just fine.
Related industries will also get a huge boost.
The huge investment in AUKUS – mainly by Australians – is welcome.
More investment is needed in the UK defense budget.
The extra £5billion over two years promised this week is a start, but those who argue it’s not enough are right.
dangerous world
Defense spending must be a priority in this increasingly dangerous world.
The more we spend, the better our defense will be.
It’s that simple.
But the West’s confrontation with China is not an arms race like the 20th century Cold War with the Soviet Union.
China is deeply engaged in our economies, unlike the Soviets.
We can’t just isolate them and pretend they don’t exist or just let the rest of the world deal between us.
That’s what we did during the Cold War because the Soviet Union was actually very weak.
China is potentially much stronger.
We don’t want to get into outright hostility, but we don’t want to be intimidated by them either.
So we need to draw a sensible line that says: we will stand up to you if we think you are intimidating us or threatening our interests.
We don’t accept your revisionism, we don’t accept that you are right to try to undermine the rules of the international system.
Of course, we want to deal civilly with China.
If they play by the rules, we welcome doing business with them.
