UK Calls Out China as AUKUS Announcement Looms

Front to back; HNLMS Evertsen, JS Izumo, HMS Defender, HMS Queen Elizabeth, HMCS Winnipeg, JS Ise, RFA Tidespring. UK Royal Navy Carrier Strike Group 21 HMS Queen Elizabeth, HMS Defender, RFA Tidespring and HNLMS Evertsen from CSG21 sails with Japanese ships JS Izumo and JS Ise along with the Canadian ship HMCS Winnipeg in the Pacific Ocean, Sept. 2021. UK Ministry of Defence via AP

The United Kingdom’s High Commissioner to Australia has called the Chinese regime a “challenge” to the UK’s values and interests.

This comes just prior to the joint announcement by the UK, Australia and the United States.

Speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra, UK’s High Commissioner to Australia, Vicki Treadell, noted that Beijing was creating a “systemic challenge” to the rules-based international order.

“We recognise China poses a systemic challenge to our values and interests. We also recognise these views may not be shared by others,” Treadell said.

She noted that the United Kingdom would support Australia and our allies across the Indo-Pacific and “anywhere the rules-based international order is threatened.”

“A fair competition can only exist within a fair framework respected by all players,” she said.

“Competition between nations is healthy; coercion is not. We will uphold the international rules-based system, including modernising and reinforcing it in the light of experience.”

AUKUS Announcement Imminent

Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom are hours away from announcing the pathway for Australia’s acquisition of nuclear submarines.

Currently, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are travelling to San Diego to announce the submarine deal with U.S. President Joe Biden on March 13.

This will be the first official visit to the United States for both prime ministers.

“Australia has long understood that partnerships and alliances are key to our security—that’s why I’m visiting the United States for this important announcement,” Albanese said in a press release on March 11.

“Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom have a shared interest in preserving peace and upholding the rules and institutions that secure our region and the world.”

UK Indo-Pacific Tilt

Treadell comments on China come as the UK moves to bolster regional peace and stability in the Indo-pacific through increasing its ties with the AUKUS and ASEAN alliances.

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in 2022 that the UK Indo-Pacific Tilt recognises that security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific are indivisible from Europe’s.

“We welcomed the condemnation of Russia’s violations of the U.N. charter and the decisions by many countries in the region—including Singapore, Japan, and the Republic of Korea—to impose sanctions on Russia for its aggression,” he said.

“Peace and stability in this region matter in the UK; 60 percent of global trade passes through shipping routes here in the Indo-Pacific, so security here has a direct impact on households in the UK, and we are working with partners in the region to promote maritime security and uphold the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. It is 40 years old this year, but it still continues to play an essential role and supports ASEAN’s own security strategy.”

He noted the UK and the Indo-Pacific countries share values like a commitment to national sovereignty, territorial integrity, freedom from economic coercion and the belief in the value of democracy and open markets.

“The UK is committed to working with partners, old and new, in defence of those values,” he said.

In line with this renewed focus on the Pacific, the UK has also doubled its presence across the region over the past four years, with Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu all now having High Commissioners in the countries.

“We have established a strong network coupled with strategic oversight from those who understand the importance of the Pacific and have lived and worked in the region,” the High Commissioner said.

“This is a point of partnership and pragmatism. Not words on paper, but people on the ground, as our Foreign Secretary has said, Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific economies and security are indivisible.”