MPs call for unclassified China strategy as Foreign Secretary visits Beijing
MPs have called for an unclassified China strategy in a new report, focused on the Indo-Pacific tilt outlined in the Integrated Review, as the Foreign Secretary gets ready to visit Beijing.
In the new 87-page report, MPs highlighted the urgency of a China strategy that encompasses not only trade and security but also diplomatic engagement, human rights, and technological cooperation.
She told Forces News the committee wants the Government "to go further and harder with its tilt".
"We think it's been too much seen through the prism of China and we don't think it’s been comprehensive enough going beyond geopolitics and defence.
"It also needs to look at soft power, it needs to look at languages, it needs to look at supply chains," she said.
She also said "undeniably, the biggest threat within the Indo-Pacific is the increasing slide to totalitarianism of the Chinese Communist Party".
But added "defence is not an escalation".
"We need to be absolutely resolute with China's communist party that when we support and stand up for the rule of law, human rights, self determination, this is not a threat to China.
"We need to defend ourselves better, but on the other side we talk about Taiwan and the fact that we need to increase support to Taiwan.
"They are a fellow democratic nation, our support is not a threat to China."
Ms Kearns also called for the UK to join the Quad, a military agreement between Australia, India, Japan and the United States, and "more meaningful defence cooperation".
"So for example, India - I would like to see more maritime cooperation," Ms Kearns said.
"We know that India wants to be more of a maritime power, they would be a natural partner for us in that field.
"But also on Aukus, we suggest that Japan and South Korea potentially join us on Strand B of the Aukus project which is the… future technologies of this world.
"Those are the sort of defence recommendations that we are making."
This is to cover issues ranging from climate change to international security, while emphasising Beijing's responsibility on the global stage.
The trip takes place as the Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) calls for a more structured and comprehensive approach to dealing with China's assertiveness and its potential impact on the UK's interests and global stability.
The report concludes that there appears to be "confusion across Whitehall about the Tilt to the Indo-Pacific, stemming from a failure to explain the policy" and urges that all relevant ministers are briefed on the higher classification version of the China strategy.
Ms Kearns said it is problematic having it as classified as "you have ministers working across Government strategy they have never seen".
She added these MPs "are making decisions on China on a daily basis that could make us more dependent on Chinese technology, or allowing China to invest in our critical national infrastructure who have not seen the strategy".
"So you cannot have a whole government response, you cannot have proper resilience if you do not have a declassified, unclassified China strategy," she said.
It comes ahead of the first visit to China by a UK Foreign Secretary in more than five years, with James Cleverly set to engage in bilateral meetings with Chinese officials.
MPs on the committee also called for the Government to recognise that the repeated attacks on Hong Kong dissidents are part of a wider Chinese Communist Party policy of repression and to proactively communicate the unacceptability of such a policy directly with representatives of the Chinese government.
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