My Take | Boris Johnson’s nuclear folly

As a former colonial subject, I can’t say I am well-disposed towards Britain. But I entertain no malice and tried to be objective while reading the British government’s latest 100-plus pages, “Global Britain in a competitive age: The Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy”, available at the government’s website.

Glad they managed to stick in that catchphrase “global Britain” after Brexit. The review sets out British security priorities at least for the rest of this decade. For British people’s sake, I seriously hope not.

I don’t want to criticise, only to understand. That has proved tough going, given the bundle of inconsistencies and incoherence in the review. Before British lawmakers, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said China should reduce its nuclear arsenal – while Britain will raise its own, against previous commitments at reduction.

Instead of cutting its stockpile to 180 warheads by the middle of this decade, the latest review says the military will raise it by 40 per cent to 260 warheads.

“We believe that China should be brought into strategic nuclear arms reduction,” Johnson said. That is supposed to convince the Chinese to reduce the number of their warheads?

The review calls for a post-Brexit refocus on “the Indo-Pacific countries”, a region described as the world’s “growth engine”. So, let’s bring more nuclear weapons to the party; that would for sure promote regional trade and economics.

Echoing the belligerent language of Washington, the review calls China “the systemic challenge… to our security, prosperity and values”. Yet, Johnson added: “We will also work with China where that is consistent with our values and interests.”