Liz Truss has been in Madrid this week, talking tough on Taiwan. In the face of continued Chinese aggression, Truss is keen to support the island republic, such as by boosting arms sales there. Yet when pressed this morning on LBC, Truss struggled to add more detail, suggesting that ‘the defence that Taiwan need is already being provided through commercial providers by a variety of nations.’
It comes after a mixed performance at the Foreign Affairs committee on Tuesday, in which Truss appeared baffled about reported delays to the UK’s China strategy, which was supposed to be passed to the cabinet last week. Her top official, Sir Philip Barton, claimed it was almost finalised but that he couldn’t remember when he last saw it. It prompted Tom Tugendhat to refer to it as ‘Schrödinger’s strategy’ – it both exists and apparently doesn’t.
All this has left China-watchers asking: what exactly is Britain’s answer to the Beijing question? Further grounds for such concerns is found in the approach of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) approach to the aid budget. Tensions exist in the department between some Foreign Office staff, who wish to see aid used as a more explicit political tool, and survivors of the Department for International Development, which was dissolved in September 2020.
And now Mr S hears that a key flashpoint has been the decision to stop all FCDO funding to the Great Britain China Centre, an executive non-departmental public body established to support UK-China relations. This funding was worth £500,000 in grant-in-aid in the 2021-22 financial year, which helped cover 61 per cent of budgeted core operating costs. This decision by the FCDO could therefore cripple the organisation, which also raises funds through earnings from externally funded projects and sponsorship and if necessary from reserves.
A Foreign Office spokesperson confirmed that:
Due to the current fiscal climate, including reductions to Official Development Assistance, we have made the decision to end FCDO grant-in-aid funding to the GBCC. We are rebalancing the aid budget to give the UK more control over how exactly the budget is spent on our key priorities supporting women and girls, honest and reliable investment, and delivering humanitarian aid.
All this at a time when the Labour party appears to be finally getting their act together on China, with Catherine West urging ministers to do to help other nations in the Indo-Pacific region. That China strategy can’t come soon enough…
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