Select committee: Defence Committee
Recommendation 10
Eleventh Report - UK Defence and the Indo-Pacific
Published 24 Oct 2023
Paragraph 88
Addressed to Ministry of Defence
Defence Committee UK Defence and the Indo-Pacific All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
It is imperative that the UK strengthens its partnerships with regional allies to maintain and deliver a shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific. AUKUS, ASEAN and the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (the Quad) serve different, but valuable, purposes in achieving regional security and stability, in line with the UK’s vision for the region. The UK should not consider seeking membership of the Quad in the short term. The UK should approach its relationship with the Quad incrementally whilst monitoring how the forum and its priorities develop in the coming years. The UK should seek to strengthen its relationship with the Quad through functional engagement in specific working groups and by participating in the more formal Quad- plus engagement groups.
From: Defence Committee, Eleventh Report - UK Defence and the Indo-Pacific (HC 183), paragraph 88, 24 October 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 11 January 2024.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government states that it has achieved the ambition set for Defence in the 2021 Integrated Review and challenges the Committee's recommendation for a published Indo-Pacific strategy, while agreeing with or noting other recommendations.
- On China, the Government "disagrees that there is a need to carry out an assessment of how to label China", saying that summing it up in one word would be "impossible, impractical and unwise". It will provide a private briefing on Defence's crisis planning process.
- On AUKUS, it "partially rejects" the request for a plan on costs and submarine numbers, saying decisions on numbers and the build contract "will be made in due course". It notes the recommendation on skills and points to a Nuclear Skills Taskforce announced on 1 August 2023.
- It agrees with the recommendations on India and on ASEAN and the Pacific Islands, and supports not seeking Quad membership "at this time". It states it has "committed to the return of the UK Carrier Strike Group to the Indo-Pacific in 2025".
- On the Committee's rejection that the tilt has been achieved, the Government "notes the Committee's criticism" and states that "Defence has met the ambitions set out in the Integrated Review 2021".