London: Britain’s long-serving defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has warned that the West must develop a more coherent political strategy towards China’s expansionist activities in the South China Sea or face a conflict within a decade.
The 53-year-old former captain in the Scots Guards, who played a key role in the AUKUS pact with Australia and the United States, made the statement in a newspaper interview announcing he would stand down from his role at the next reshuffle, becoming the latest member of the Conservative government to confirm they would not contest next year’s general election.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Wallace warned of a “total breakdown of politics in the Pacific”, because of Beijing’s aim of constructing new islands and stationing military equipment. He said Britain and its allies could find itself in a conflict within years.
“You could find yourself by 2030 in a position of Cold War,” he said.
“Towards the end of the decade, the world is going to be much more unsafe, more insecure. I think we will find ourselves in a conflict. Whether it is a cold or a warm conflict, I think we’ll be in a difficult position.”
Wallace, who became security minister in 2016 before being promoted to in 2019, had positioned himself to become the next NATO secretary-general, but that aim was thwarted after US President Joe Biden refused to back his candidacy.
He has served under three prime ministers and is the longest serving Tory defence minister since Sir Winston Churchill held the post, in parallel with the premiership, during World War II.
Wallace said he was concerned about Chinese President Xi Jinping’s desire to take Taiwan, which he said “was not a secret”, and warned it would have disastrous consequences.
“It makes us deeply vulnerable,” he said. “Taiwan manufactures 90 per cent of the world’s most powerful chips in literally one factory.”
He said he wanted to “keep talking to China” and believed the West needed a more coherent political strategy.
Foreign minister Penny Wong has warned there will be grave consequences for all if a war was to start over Taiwan.
“I think the most worrying thing, the thing we have to worry about more, is in the South China Sea, where sovereignty is being actually stolen or established by China in areas that other nations would view as their economic zones,” he said.
“You see a China-Vietnam dispute on fishing grounds, China-Philippines disputes on fishing. The Chinese arrive with these massive flotillas.”
But he said his greatest concern remained the danger of military conflict with Russia, accidental or otherwise.
“If Putin loses in Ukraine, he will be deeply wounded,” Wallace said. “He’s still got an air force, and he’s still got a navy – and we see his navy do quite aggressive manoeuvres. Putin is not done with us yet. There is an ability for him, in the next three or four years, to lash out.”
Wallace was scalded by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last week after he suggested Ukraine should show more “gratitude” for the military support it has been given.
The comments were made at a fringe event at the NATO summit in Vilnius, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said it was “absurd” that NATO would not give a timetable for his country securing membership of the bloc once the war with Russia is over.
On Twitter on Saturday evening, writing in Ukrainian, Wallace said his comments had been “somewhat misrepresented”, and he was making the point that in some parliaments there “is not such strong support as in Great Britain”.
He said his comments had not been about governments but “more about citizens and members of parliaments”.
Source : TheSydneyMorningHerald
