A senior British military commander has warned that if Britain and the West continue to cede the “strategic initiative” to rivals such as China and Russia, they may eventually be forced to cave in “without firing a single shot.
General Patrick Sanders, commander of Britain’s Strategic Command, wrote in The Times of London on Saturday (March 13), “We are running out of steam in interventions such as Iraq, while other countries are using the Time and space to advance their interests more strategically. “
He said, “China [the Chinese Communist Party] has pursued a strategy of ‘giving up without a fight’ that has changed the environment of the international order.”
He added that both the Communist Party and Russia are “gaining a decisive advantage in military information age technology.
The consequence, he said, “is a cascade of strategic surprises, erosion of strategic advantage and loss of initiative. If left unattended, it is not inconceivable that we will find ourselves overwhelmed by the fait accompli that has been created and that we will surrender without a shot being fired.”
But he said the British government would “develop a strategy for restoring the initiative” in its “comprehensive assessment” of British foreign policy, defense, security and international developments.
The comprehensive assessment will be the most comprehensive policy assessment since the end of the Cold War, according to the British government.
In November 2020, the U.K. government announced a 24.1 billion euro ($31.8 billion) increase in military spending, the largest U.K. defense investment since the end of the Cold War. The increased spending is focused on space and cyber defense.
General Sanders wrote, “We will enhance our competitive advantage, particularly in areas such as space, cyber and artificial intelligence.”
Last September, Gen. Nick Carter, the U.K.’s chief of defense staff, said that U.K. adversaries such as Communist China and Russia hope to “win without going to war: by breaking our willpower and using attacks below the threshold that could trigger war to achieve their goals.”
Also in September 2020, Lt. Gen. Jim Hockenhull, head of British defense intelligence, told British media that the Chinese Communist Party “poses the greatest threat to the world order, seeking to impose Chinese [Communist Party] standards and norms, using its economic power to influence and subvert the world order, and using massive investment to modernize its armed forces.”
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