The newly appointed National Security Review head of the UK government and Member of the House of Lords, George Robertson, has stated that the Chinese Communist Party poses a lethal threat to the UK. In his remarks on China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, he mentioned, “We are facing an increasingly united deadly quartet.”
According to a report from The Guardian on Tuesday, Lord George Robertson, a former Secretary General of NATO and Member of the House of Lords, stated during a briefing that the UK and its allies are facing deadly threats from China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, as they are joining forces to confront the West, and the UK must prepare to respond.
Lord Robertson, who served as UK Defence Secretary during Tony Blair’s administration, made these remarks when appointed by the new Defence Minister, John Healey, to lead a three-person defense review team. The review led by him will help the government identify priorities for defense and foreign policies.
Reported by the Financial Times, the previous UK government described Beijing as a “epochal challenge,” only using the term “threat” in the economic aspect. However, the current government’s language towards the Chinese Communist Party has notably become tougher.
When asked about this shift, Lord Robertson said, “The NATO summit held last week in Washington made it very clear that we must take the challenge posed by China very, very seriously.”
Lord Robertson added that the developments in the Indo-Pacific region could “quickly play out in the Euro-Atlantic region.”
During the NATO summit held last week, the 32 member countries unanimously agreed that the deepening strategic partnership between China and Russia is concerning, with “China becoming a decisive driver for Russia’s war on Ukraine.”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated during the summit, “China provides dual-use equipment, microelectronics, and many other tools to enable Russia to produce missiles, bombs, planes, and weapons for use in attacking Ukraine.”
Stoltenberg warned China that this situation cannot continue.
U.S. President Joe Biden also emphasized at the NATO summit his concerns about increasing coordinated actions by China, North Korea, Russia, and Iran. He warned the Chinese authorities that continuing to support Russia in the invasion of Ukraine “will have consequences.”
UK Defence Minister Healey confirmed that the returning Labour government will separate the promised “review” of UK-China bilateral relations from the Strategic Defence Review.
UK’s newly appointed Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced last week that the Defence Review report will outline the roadmap on how to increase defense spending from the current 2.3% to 2.5%. It is expected that this review report will be submitted in July 2025.