China poses systemic challenge to UK - Sunak

On the flight to Bali, a question about Rishi Sunak's commitment to reclassifying China as a "threat" to national security, like his predecessor Liz Truss, came up.

Liz Truss committed to reopening the integrated review, which outlines the UK's priorities in defense and diplomacy and was published last year, during the leadership campaign.

Sunak expressed his opinion that China constituted a "systemic challenge" to UK principles, but he did not commit to upholding Truss' promise to formally downgrade China in the integrated review.

"My opinion of China is clear-cut. I believe that China is without a doubt the biggest state-based threat to our economic security and that it unquestionably poses a systemic threat - or, more accurately, a systemic challenge - to our values and our interests, he said.

"That's why it's crucial it we use the authority necessary to protect ourselves against that. The National Security Investment Act, for instance, is a good illustration of that.

"However, I also believe that China is an undeniable fact of the world economy and that without engaging in dialogue with them, we won't be able to address shared global challenges like climate change, public health, or even dealing with Russia and Ukraine."

Additionally, the question of whether the UK should arm Taiwan was put to the Prime Minister.

We're looking at all of these policies as part of the integrated review's renewal, he added.

Our position on Taiwan is that there shouldn't be any unilateral changes to the status quo and that there should be a peaceful resolution to the issue.

We are prepared to stand up to Chinese aggression as we do in supporting Taiwan.