The Security Strategy of a UK in Decline according to two CICIR Analysts

Waning hard and soft power | Political instability | Chronic short-termism | Weak economy | Lack of strategic autonomy | Protectionism | "Pan-securitisation" (泛安全化)

Today’s edition begins with a short commentary by Sam Hogg, founder and editor of the excellent

Beijing to Britain

– a weekly briefing covering the UK's relationship with China.

The British establishment spends an increasingly significant amount of time thinking about China. How do we understand the Communist Party’s strategic aims under General Secretary Xi Jinping? How do we work with international partners to engage with China, or limit its powers in certain arenas? What areas should we be allocating more resources to, and why? How do we attempt to navigate the US-China relationship in a way that protects our economy and sovereign ambitions?

As Chinese analysts Yang Fang and Qu Bing outline in this essay, the Integrated Review and the consequent refresh published two years later go some of the way to answering these questions. Some of their observations are perhaps too harsh: a focus on the US-UK bilateral relationship dominates part of their analysis, while the UK’s push (alongside the US) to invest…