 "UK wants trade and security pact with India and other democracies: FS Truss")
The UK wants to strike agreements covering trade and security with India and other freedom-loving democratic countries in the strategic Indo-Pacific region to challenge the influence of "malign actors and authoritarian states", Britain's new Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said on Sunday.
Truss, who was in charge of talks with India on a future Free Trade Agreement (FTA) as the International Trade Secretary until her recent promotion within the UK Cabinet, said that she is keen to strike more deals along the lines of AUKUS the trilateral security alliance between Australia, the UK and the US, which is widely seen as a counter-balance to China.
The alliance - widely seen as an effort to counter China's influence in the contested South China Sea - was announced by US President Joe Biden, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison last month.
We want to work with our friends and allies to create more economic agreements and security agreements. AUKUS is about protecting trade routes and shipping routes specifically with Australia but I want to look at arrangements with India, with Japan and with Canada to expand that security support in the same types of areas, Truss told The Sunday Times in her first major interview since taking over her new role at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
Some countries we will be able to enter deeper security arrangements with than others. One thing I know from being Trade Secretary for two years is that the UK is hugely trusted. People know we are reliable and when we say we will do something we do it, we follow the rules, she said.
Truss said that Britain would seek alliances with freedom-loving democracies to challenge the influence of malign actors and authoritarian states and that security pacts could augment trade deals, pointing to Britain's request to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
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Asked by the newspaper about these moves being directed at containing the influence of China in the region, she said it is about the "advancement of freedom".
It's a positive strategy to engage other countries who want to see a free enterprise, open, free trading world succeed. It's a positive strategy to build economic strength, she said.
Prime Minister Johnson told MPs last month that the AUKUS agreement was "not intended to be adversarial" to China but the UK was "determined to defend international law".
The interview comes as the ruling Conservative Party began its annual conference on Sunday in Manchester, where all senior Tory leaders will be addressing party delegates over the course of the next three days.
She told the newspaper: The Prime Minister (Boris Johnson) is the great proponent of global Britain. He wants us out there making a positive case for our values on the world stage but also delivering for people across the United Kingdom.
What we did at trade, striking trade deals with 68 countries, was all about bringing opportunities across the UK, whether it's for our whisky industry, our car industry, our digital industry, she added.