LONDON – China will present Britain with the “challenges of the times” in the future, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in his government’s new defense strategy guidelines released on March 13..

The unified review document on defense, security and foreign policy sharpens the British government’s position on China policy, having previously portrayed Beijing as only a systemic challenge to Britain.

“Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, militarization of energy and food supplies, and irresponsible nuclear rhetoric, combined with China’s more aggressive stance in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, threaten to create a world defined by danger, chaos, and division, and an international order more in favor of authoritarianism,” Sunak wrote in the foreword to the review.

Sunak was in San Diego at the time of the magazine’s publication to meet with the President of the United States, Joe Bidenand Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Three Western leaders are in the California city to announce the latest steps towards building a nuclear powered submarine fleet for the Royal Australian Navy as part of the AUKUS pact to counter China’s increasing military capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region.

“China is an important challenge to the kind of international order we want, both in terms of security and value, so our approach must evolve.Sunak said.

“We will work with our partners to engage with Beijing on issues such as climate change,” the document added. “But where there are attempts by the Chinese Communist Party to coerce or create dependency, we will cooperate with the other side to fight it.”

The 2023 review is an update, but not a complete reorientation, of the previous 2021 policy review released by Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government at the time.

The previous review was immediately followed by a review by the Ministry of Defense which established the capability and equipment priorities of the armed forces.

A similar review, known as a command document, is planned again, but not until later this year, when new priorities for equipment and personnel will be established.

One of the key elements of the 2021 document is the orientation of the UK’s industrial and defense policies towards the Asia-Pacific region.

The first phase is already underway with AUKUS, a partnership with Japan to build sixth-generation fighter jets, and other relationships in the region..

The report also notes that the UK plans to strengthen relations with neighboring countries that share interests in the Asia-Pacific, including France.

The Franco-British summit held at the start of the month opted to enhance cooperation in the region, inter alia by laying the groundwork for a permanent European maritime presence in the region through the coordinated deployment of aircraft carriers.