UK-China Relations: Global Britain in a Competitive Age and China as the Systemic Competitor

Abstract

The Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy: Global Britain in a Competitive Age has been published in March 2021. It sets out the United Kingdom’s foreign and security policy approach for the next decade. In the Integrated Review, the international system is described as more competitive, more fragmented, and multipolar. It introduces a new policy approach based on new trends namely geopolitical and geoeconomic shifts; systemic competition; rapid technological change; and transnational challenges in the world post-Covid-19 and post-Brexit. The Global Britain vision labels China as a challenging “systemic competitor” in this new world order. The United Kingdom-China relations have a long history, with a complex nature and include both cooperation and confrontation. This article focuses on the United Kingdom’s China strategy which, according to the Integrated Review, requires a shift in policy making. This article claims that the United Kingdom lacks a clear China strategy although it describes it as the main systemic competitor. It elaborates on the historical developments of bilateral relations and questions the challenges that China pose to security, prosperity, and values from the British perspective.