U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly will call on China to be more transparent about its military expansion in the Indo-Pacific in order to avoid a "tragic miscalculation” over the future of Taiwan.
It’s "wrong” to declare a new cold war and seek to isolate China, Britain’s top diplomat will say in a speech at Mansion House in London on Tuesday. But the foreign secretary will also condemn Chinese oppression in Xinjiang and its dismantling of freedoms in Hong Kong, as well as questioning its military motives.
"China is carrying out the biggest military buildup in peacetime history,” Cleverly will say in the keynote speech. "The U.K. and our allies are prepared to be open about our presence in the Indo-Pacific. I urge China to be equally open about the doctrine and intent behind its military expansion, because transparency is surely in everyone’s interests and secrecy can only increase the risk of tragic miscalculation.”