U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly visited Washington to dictate the British Empire’s marching orders to a fawning Secretary of State Tony Blinken. During a joint press conference after their talks, they hammered away at a few central points: 1) the U.K.-U.S. strategic alliance is rock solid; 2) both countries are focused on “defending” themselves against China; and 3) that both the U.K. and U.S. will continue to show that “we have the grit, we have the determination” to hardline it on Ukraine and not flinch, in the words of Cleverly. They also announced that Prime Minister Sunak would be visiting Washington in June to meet with President Biden.
On the two countries’ special relationship, Blinken said: “I think we see very, very close strategic alignment. That includes when it comes to both our individual relationships and coordinated approach with China, which we discussed today.… [We have a] shared approach when it comes to key issues like ensuring peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.” Blinken then quoted earlier remarks by Cleverly, that “The world is a healthier, happier, safer, more prosperous place when the United Kingdom and the United States work closely together.” Blinken enthused: “I couldn’t agree more. And next month’s visit by Prime Minister Sunak to meet with President Biden will offer us a chance to do even more of that, and we’re very much looking forward to it.”
Cleverly said in turn: “We deal with them [world problems] effectively; we deal with them collaboratively. And we’re able to do so because of the very strong bilateral relationship that our two countries enjoy.” He also stressed that they had discussed China: “We made the point that we need to defend ourselves as nations—the U.K. is doing this, as indeed the United States of America is—against inappropriate activities by China. We also need to make sure that we build alliances and strengthen the pre-existing alliances that we have, as I’m doing today with the United States of America, but also with our friends in the Indo-Pacific region.”
