Brexit to make UK more vulnerable to interference from China, report warnsEconomic uncertainties after Brexit could make the UK more vulnerable to Chinese interference, with Beijing using a variety of means to infiltrate Britain’s power structures, a leading think-tank has warned.
The report examines the “concerted strategy” allegedly used by Beijing, ranging from spreading surreptitious technological reach through mega-corporations like Huawei, to the “elite capture” of people in important positions and opinion-formers by the placing of “advisers”.
But the UK, seeking post-Brexit trade, has agreed to join the controversial initiative with David Cameron leading a $1bn private fund, supported by the British government.
The Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) report – “UK Vulnerable to Chinese Influence and Interference Operations” – calls for scrutiny of the “risk of financial dependencies being set up through consultancies offered to retired politicians, who the CCP hopes will push a sympathetic narrative.
“The case of former British prime minister David Cameron, who is involved in a large China fund which aims to invest $1bn in BRI projects, has gained some attention.
Het is altijd opvallend dat een Britse premier, van wie op zo'n positie wordt verwacht dat 'ie het meest opkomt voor het algemene belang van het land, na z'n vertrek gaat werken voor een project van een geopolitieke tegenstander, wiens project bedoelt is om landen die meedoen afhankelijk te maken en te verzwakken ten gunste van China.
Het laat vooral zien waar de ware motivaties en loyaliteiten van zulke personen liggen.
Niet heel erg brexit gerelateerd, maar imho wel een goede observatie:
Turning our back on studying history fits with a society that’s losing its common purposeAfter all, the young cannot always stand on their own; they need to be offered the first rungs of the ladder. Later, they may strike out, but those first steps are crucial. They need to be nurtured, to get an idea of what work can be – and what might suit their skills, values and ambitions.
But the new right does not believe in institutions that exist over time, transmit values and which root societies and the next generation. The one-nation right certainly believed in the value of what Edmund Burke called the “little platoons” in society to which we belong.
The country undoubtedly needs more computer scientists, medics and engineers – but as a society surely not at the expense of the humanities, whose essence is captured in the name. A society that has forgotten its history, is ignorant of its poetry and most of whose citizens have no understanding of foreign languages or culture is withering. An organisation staffed only by those with instrumental skills will have little sense of its purpose or social place, which is the ultimate guarantor of success. The best scientists know they need their humanity colleagues – in a firm as much as a college.
But students will only value the humanities if society values them. And that means nurturing the organisations that have a sufficiently long-term sense of themselves and their purpose to be able to recruit from across the academic disciplines.
Het is voor stabiliteit van een land van belang dat ook de sociale wetenschappen een brede basis krijgen in de samenleving, aangezien vele instituties daarvan afhankelijk zijn. Dat beïnvloed direct en indirect de kwaliteit en kwantiteit het bestuur, journalistiek en andere maatschappelijke organisaties.
Door zowel zulke studies te ontmoedigen en alsmede het maatschappelijk middenveld uit te kleden, krijg je een samenleving die alleen een focus heeft op de noden van de private sector. En dus minder instaat is om kritisch op zichzelf te reflecteren waardoor het makkelijk wordt macht en controle uit te oefenen.
"When I am weaker than you I ask you for freedom because that is according to your principles; when I am stronger than you I take away your freedom because that is according to my principles"- Frank Herbert