MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th March, 2023) A new comprehensive review of the United Kingdom's security, defense and foreign policy will include mentioning the threat that China poses to Taiwan, The Telegraph reported on Sunday.
The updated Government's Integrated Review by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, which is to be published on March 13, will attempt to find a balance between taking a tougher approach to China's "defiant" behavior while maintaining cooperation with Beijing in certain areas, the report said.
According to the UK's Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy published in 2021, Russia was identified as "the most acute direct threat" to London.
In August 2022, former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss � the foreign secretary at the time � vowed to declare China a threat to national security and toughen the country's policy toward Beijing if she is elected prime minister.
Tensions between mainland China on the one hand, and Taiwan and countries boosting cooperation with the island on the other hand, escalated after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island in early August. Beijing condemned Pelosi's trip, which it regarded as a gesture of support for separatism, and held large-scale military exercises in the vicinity of the island.
Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949. Beijing views the island as its province, while Taiwan � a territory with its own elected government � maintains that it is an autonomous country but stops short of declaring independence. Beijing opposes any official contacts of foreign states with Taipei and considers Chinese sovereignty over the island indisputable.
