{"id":98909,"date":"2021-03-30T01:03:11","date_gmt":"2021-03-30T01:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=180181"},"modified":"2021-03-30T01:03:11","modified_gmt":"2021-03-30T01:03:11","slug":"nuclear-weapons-blazing-britain-enters-the-us-china-fray-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/03\/30\/nuclear-weapons-blazing-britain-enters-the-us-china-fray-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuclear Weapons Blazing: Britain Enters the US-China Fray"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>Boris Johnson\u2019s March 16 speech<\/a> before the British Parliament was reminiscent, at least in tone, to that<\/a> of Chinese President Xi Jinping in October 2019, on the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China.<\/p>\n

The comparison is quite apt if we remember the long-anticipated shift in Britain\u2019s foreign policy and Johnson\u2019s conservative government\u2019s pressing need to chart a new global course in search for new allies \u2013 and new enemies.<\/p>\n

Xi\u2019s words in 2019 signaled a new era in Chinese foreign policy, where Beijing hoped to send a message to its allies and enemies that the rules of the game were finally changing in its favor, and that China\u2019s economic miracle \u2013 launched<\/a> under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping in 1992 \u2013 would no longer be confined to the realm of wealth accumulation, but would exceed this to politics and military strength, as well.<\/p>\n

In China\u2019s case, Xi\u2019s declarations were not a shift per se, but rather a rational progression. However, in the case of Britain, the process, though ultimately rational, is hardly straightforward. After officially leaving<\/a> the European Union in January 2020, Britain was expected to articulate a new national agenda. This articulation, however, was derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the multiple crises it generated.<\/p>\n

Several scenarios, regarding the nature of Britain\u2019s new agenda, were plausible:<\/p>\n

One, that Britain maintains a degree of political proximity to the EU, thus avoiding more negative repercussions of Brexit;<\/p>\n

Two, for Britain to return to its former alliance with the US, begun in earnest in the post-World War II era and the formation of NATO and reaching its zenith in the run up to the Iraq invasion in 2003;<\/p>\n

Finally, for Britain to play the role of the mediator, standing at an equal distance among all parties, so that it may reap the benefits of its unique position as a strong country with a massive global network.<\/p>\n

A government\u2019s report, \u201cGlobal Britain in a Competitive Age\u201d, released<\/a> on March 16, and Johnson\u2019s  subsequent speech, indicate that Britain has chosen the second option.<\/p>\n

The report clearly prioritizes the British-American alliance above all others, stating that \u201cThe United States will remain the UK\u2019s most important strategic ally and partner\u201d, and underscoring Britain\u2019s need to place greater focus on the \u2018Indo-Pacific\u2019 region, calling it \u201cthe centre of intensifying geopolitical competition\u201d.<\/p>\n

Therefore, unsurprisingly, Britain is now set to dispatch<\/a> a military carrier to the South China Sea, and is preparing<\/a> to expand its nuclear arsenal from 180 to 260 warheads, in obvious violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty<\/a> (NPT). The latter move can be directly attributed to Britain\u2019s new political realignment which roughly follows the maxim of \u2018the enemy of my friend is my enemy\u2019.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s report places<\/a> particular emphasis on China, warning against its increased \u201cinternational assertiveness\u201d and \u201cgrowing importance in the Indo-Pacific\u201d. Furthermore, it calls for greater investment in enhancing \u201cChina-facing capabilities\u201d and responding to \u201cthe systematic challenge\u201d that China \u201cposes to our security\u201d.<\/p>\n

How additional nuclear warheads will allow Britain to achieve its above objectives remains uncertain. Compared with Russia and the US, Britain\u2019s nuclear arsenal, although duly destructive, is negligible<\/a> in terms of its overall size. However, as history has taught us, nuclear weapons are rarely manufactured to be used in war \u2013 with the single exception of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The number of nuclear warheads and the precise position of their operational deployment are usually meant to send a message, not merely that of strength or resolve, but also to delineate where a specific country stands in terms of its alliances.<\/p>\n

The US-Soviet Cold War, for example, was expressed largely through a relentless arms race<\/a>, with nuclear weapons playing a central role in that polarizing conflict, which divided the world into two major ideological-political camps.<\/p>\n

Now that China is likely to claim the superpower status enjoyed by the Soviets until the early 1990s, a new Great Game and Cold War can be felt, not only in the Asia Pacific region, but as far away as Africa and South America. While Europe continues to hedge its bets in this new global conflict \u2013 reassured by the size of its members\u2019 collective economies \u2013 Britain, thanks to Brexit<\/a>, no longer has that leverage. No longer an EU member, Britain is now keen to protect its global interests through a direct commitment to US interests. Now that China has been designated as America\u2019s new enemy, Britain must play along.<\/p>\n

While much media coverage has been dedicated to the expansion of Britain\u2019s nuclear arsenal, little attention has been paid to the fact that the British move is a mere step in a larger political scheme, which ultimately aims at executing a British tilt to Asia, similar to the US \u2018pivot to Asia\u2019, declared<\/a> by the Barack Obama Administration nearly a decade ago.<\/p>\n

The British foreign policy shift is an unprecedented gamble for London, as the nature of the new Cold War is fundamentally different from the previous one; this time around, the \u2018West\u2019 is divided, torn by politics and crises, while NATO is no longer the superpower it once was.<\/p>\n

Now that Britain has made its position clear, the ball is in the Chinese court, and the new Great Game is, indeed, afoot.<\/p>\n

This article was posted on Monday, March 29th, 2021 at 6:03pm and is filed under Arms Race<\/a>, Boris Johnson<\/a>, China<\/a>, Cold War<\/a>, Imperialism<\/a>, Militarism<\/a>, NATO<\/a>, South China Sea<\/a>, Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW)<\/a>, UK Military<\/a>, United Kingdom<\/a>, US Pivot to Asia<\/a>, Xi Jinping<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on Radio Free<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boris Johnson\u2019s March 16 speech before the British Parliament was reminiscent, at least in tone, to that of Chinese President Xi Jinping in October 2019, on the 70th\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7250,189,190,4332,731,165,712,4,7922,4733,198,200,16059,2024],"tags":[16061,353,379,13060,1098,170,1167,16062,16063,3079,325,16064,16065],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98909"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98909"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98910,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98909\/revisions\/98910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}