{"id":12050,"date":"2023-03-27T12:30:16","date_gmt":"2023-03-27T12:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/?p=12050"},"modified":"2023-03-30T21:13:56","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T21:13:56","slug":"responding-to-the-integrated-review-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/responding-to-the-integrated-review-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Responding to the Integrated Review 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

The long-awaited refresh to the UK Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy (known as the Integrated Review, or IR) was published on 13 March, two years on from the first version. Lewis Husain<\/strong> and James Keeley<\/strong> from the Institute of Development Studies<\/strong> examine what it means for the UK\u2019s relationship with China amid a challenging global environment<\/h2>\n

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From the Integrated Review to IR2023<\/h4>\n

The IR is the preeminent guiding document on the way the UK sees relations with China at a time of global instability and when relations between China and the West are at their lowest ebb in decades. The refreshed IR, IR2023<\/a>, frames the UK\u2019s policy towards China in terms of protecting national interests, aligning with others to protect collective values, and engaging with China where possible. Versions of this framing are now almost standard for Western countries and the EU as they rethink their relations with China.<\/p>\n

Much has changed since 2021, and the government has refined its approach to the country. We have seen, for instance, increased sensitivity to Chinese engagement in critical national infrastructure and cyber security; growing concerns regarding supply chain resilience and critical minerals; and increased scrutiny of academia and its relations with People\u2019s Republic of China (PRC) entities. The Australia, United Kingdom, United States (AUKUS) defence partnership to counter China in the South China Seas has deepened.<\/p>\n

IR23 reflects this changing thinking, with a more substantive and detailed discussion of China. Critically, that includes an increased emphasis on diplomacy, dialogue and engagement.<\/p>\n

The publication itself says that \u201cIR2023 also includes a clear articulation of the principles that will underpin the UK\u2019s approach to bilateral relations with China, in which the importance of dialogue and diplomacy is emphasised. Ultimately, the UK seeks to re-establish a stable, constructive and frank relationship that can both create better conditions for cooperation and underpin the kind of strategic dialogue required to prevent miscalculation and misunderstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is an important step in recognising the multifaceted and complex relationship the UK needs with China in the coming years. Developing an effective approach to engagement and cooperation now requires an action plan, clear priorities, strengthened capacities, and resources.<\/p>\n

The need for constructive engagement on global challenges<\/h4>\n

This is in an era of \u2018polycrisis\u2019 and interconnected global challenges which require collective action.<\/p>\n

All but the most ardent China hawks recognise the need for cooperation with China on global problems, and IR2023 namechecks climate change<\/a> and global health. But these issues get much less air-time than the security issues outlined above. What are the UK\u2019s priorities? How should we build effective forms of engagement around them?<\/p>\n

Forging a new kind of relationship with China that mainstreams serious global challenges will not be straightforward, but is necessary. We ask what is needed to re-centre such challenges in our thinking as we navigate the choppy waters ahead.<\/p>\n

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Foreign Secretary James Cleverly meets Wang Yi, China\u2019s Foreign Minister, as he attends the Munich Security Conference. Photo: Simon Dawson\/No 10 Downing Street via UK Government on Flickr)<\/p><\/div>\n

Rationales for engagement<\/h4>\n

In discussions of China strategy, engagement and cooperation are generally an afterthought, summarised as something like \u2018climate change and pandemics\u2019, as in IR2023. But this ignores the complexity of a major set of issues where China is an important factor, and which need to be thought through.<\/p>\n

China is vital to many significant global challenges, given its size, systemic importance, regional presence, and technological advancement. Examples include health and development challenges such as antimicrobial resistance (AMR), food insecurity, plastic pollution, and developing country debt relief; governing frontier spaces such as digital tech, the arctic, and space; and stability issues, including financial stability, peace and security, and fragile states. Over the coming weeks, the IDS China Centre at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) will publish blogs exploring some of these key issues.<\/p>\n

For countries reappraising their relations with China, thinking in terms of three kinds of challenges can help clarify what we are trying to achieve.<\/p>\n