UK pledges £25m to strengthen security in Indo-Pacific.
Sydney:
Britain has pledged £25 million ($34 million) to boost security in the Indo-Pacific as part of an agreement with Australia, and leaders from both countries expressed “serious concern”. important” about China’s policies in the remote western region of Xinjiang.
During a video call on Thursday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison also called for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and warned Russia against invading Ukraine.
“They agreed on the need for de-escalation and stressed that any further Russian incursion into Ukraine would be a major strategic mistake and would have a heavy humanitarian cost,” the leaders said. said in a joint statement after the meeting.
Funds committed to the Indo-Pacific security agreement will strengthen the region’s resilience in areas including cyber, state threats and maritime security, Morrison and Johnson said.
The bilateral talks come just a week after the so-called Quad Group of Australia, the United States, Japan and India pledged deeper cooperation to ensure the Indo-Pacific region is not affected. coercion”, a thin blow to China’s economy and military expansion.
Johnson and Morrison expressed “grave concern about credible reports of human rights abuses in Xinjiang, and called on China to protect Hong Kong’s rights, freedoms and high degree of autonomy.”
The United States accuses China of genocide in its treatment of the Muslim Uighur minority in Xinjiang and abuses, including forced labor and imprisonment. China denies the allegations.
China imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong in 2020, a move that critics say curtails greater freedoms promised under the “one country” framework. country, two systems” was agreed upon when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Morrison and Johnson also emphasized “the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and expressed support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organisations.”
China claims Taiwan as its own territory. Taiwan has complained about frequent Chinese air raids on its air defense identification zone, part of what Taipei says is a form of harassment by Beijing.
The British and Australian leaders also emphasized the importance of rights and freedoms of navigation in the South China Sea, saying they strongly oppose “any unilateral action that could escalate tensions and be destructive. regional stability and the international rules-based order, including militarization, coercion, and intimidation.”
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
