{"id":7412,"date":"2021-04-02T06:45:33","date_gmt":"2021-04-02T06:45:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/?p=7412"},"modified":"2021-03-31T09:31:00","modified_gmt":"2021-03-31T09:31:00","slug":"what-the-integrated-review-and-the-14th-five-year-plan-have-in-common","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/what-the-integrated-review-and-the-14th-five-year-plan-have-in-common\/","title":{"rendered":"What the Integrated Review and the 14th Five-Year Plan have in common"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UK\u2019s Integrated Review mirrors many of the top priorities of China\u2019s 14th Five-Year Plan, including cooperation in R&D and green development and more investment in these areas.<\/h2>\n

The UK government published its long-awaited Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy on 16 March. The nearly 100-page long document, titled \u2018Global Britain in a Competitive Age,\u2019 outlines the government\u2019s foreign policy strategy for the next five years as well the Prime Minister\u2019s vision for the UK in 2030.<\/p>\n

Among the main items: by the end of this decade, the UK aims to be a science and technology superpower, as well as a global hub for services, and the digital and data economy. Spending on R&D should reach 2.4% of GDP by 2027, while the government will invest at least \u00a3800 million to set up the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) to fund high-risk\/high-reward research.<\/p>\n

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Furthermore, the UK wants to become a leader in green technologies and sustainable development, while achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, ten years ahead of China. The government wants to invest \u00a312 billion to support a green industrial revolution and create up to 250,000 highly skilled green jobs by 2030.<\/p>\n

The IR\u2019s ambitious development goals for R&D investment and green technologies are unlikely to succeed without international cooperation. This will also surely include working with China, whose own recently-published 14th Five-Year Plan<\/a> lists many of the same areas as top priorities. For example, China wants to increase overall spending on R&D by at least 7% per year until 2025. Its seven core research pillars also include advanced AI, quantum technology, and engineering biology, all areas included in the IR<\/p>\n

Although the IR maintains that the UK\u2019s defence strategy continues to be centred on the Euro-Atlantic area and that Russia remains the country\u2019s \u2018acute direct threat,\u2019 most of the media coverage focused on the IR\u2019s so-called \u2018tilt\u2019 towards the Indo-Pacific region.<\/p>\n