The UK Labour Party wants groups of officials from different government departments to tackle the long-term threat posed by states such as China — which it views as hostile to British interests — if it comes to power at the next general election.
(Bloomberg) — The UK Labour Party wants groups of officials from different government departments to tackle the long-term threat posed by states such as China — which it views as hostile to British interests — if it comes to power at the next general election.
A new “joint cell” between the Home and Foreign offices would share intelligence and expertise, speed up decision-making and break down “traditional barriers and turf-wars between departments,” Labour’s home affairs spokeswoman, Yvette Cooper, said in a speech on Monday. Another joint Home Office and Treasury task-force would “respond to the short-term and long-term economic threats to the UK’s homeland security,” she added.
“The response to China is different to the issues that we face from Russia or the issues that we face from Iran,” Cooper told the RUSI think tank in London. “There is an overarching failure to have that coordinated focus that brings all government departments together to address this and to plan for the future.”
Beijing has long rejected claims that it poses a threat to other nations, with China saying it’s committed to its “peaceful rise.” In a letter earlier this month marking the 70th anniversary of ice-breaking diplomatic missions between the UK and the People’s Republic, President Xi Jinping said the relationship has helped support world peace and more than $100 billion of annual two-way trade.
Those ties have been strained over a range of issues including Beijing’s crackdown on the former British colony of Hong Kong and London’s support for Washington’s efforts to check growing Chinese military and industrial might. Last week, Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee accused the British government of a short-termist approach to China, saying it had left the country “severely handicapped” in tackling Beijing’s economic dominance and spying.
Cooper’s remarks echo those of Labour leader Keir Starmer, who told the House of Commons in May that it was in the UK’s national interest to engage with China, without “cozying up” to it. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose Conservatives are trailing Labour by double digits in most national polls, must call an election by January 2025.
“Whilst the debate on counterterror is on how to update and modernize a comprehensive strategy, we don’t yet have the robust and long-lasting equivalent” of the government “strategy for dealing with hostile states,” she said.
Cooper criticized the Conservatives domestic security response to “fast-changing concerns” overseas as “too disjointed, disorganized and delayed.”
“We’re going to continue to have extensive trade with China, so therefore you need to identify which are the sectors, which are the supply chains, that are most significant in terms of resilience, in terms of their crucial impact, whether it’s on our economy or on our security as well,” Cooper said.
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