UK Foreign Secretary Says Russia, China Seek To Fill Ideological Vacuum

United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Friday that China and Russia are seeking to fill an ideological vacuum by forging alliances with authoritarian regimes around the world and pursuing closer bilateral cooperation than ever before

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st January, 2022) United Kingdom Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Friday that China and Russia are seeking to fill an ideological vacuum by forging alliances with authoritarian regimes around the world and pursuing closer bilateral cooperation than ever before.

"China and Russia have spotted an ideological vacuum and they are rushing to fill it. They are emboldened in a way that we haven't seen since the Cold War," Truss said in a speech at Australia's Lowy Institute, stressing that "authoritarian regimes around the world... like Belarus, North Korea or Myanmar find their closest allies in Moscow and Beijing."

According to Truss, Russia and China harness their partnerships with these countries to "promote their propaganda and destabilize free democracies on their doorstep," calling on western allies to intensify their efforts to address the threats arising from Russia-China collaboration and "build a global network of liberty."

"Russia and China are working together more and more as they strive to set the standards in technologies like artificial intelligence, to assert their dominance over the western Pacific through joint military exercises, and in space through closer ties," Truss claimed, adding that according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Russia and China have "the strongest closest and best relationship" in 70 years.

Truss and Defense Secretary Ben Wallace arrived in Australia on January 20 to discuss cooperation within AUKUS, a trilateral security pact between Australia, the UK and the United States, as well as economic, security and technology issues.

Moscow and Beijing have repeatedly asserted that cooperation between the two countries is not targeted against other states. Beijing noted that, while Russia and China stand together, the world order will not turn chaotic, and that neither country will succeed in driving a wedge between the two countries.

Russia and China have previously raised concerns about the security situation in the Asia-Pacific due to the establishment of the AUKUS partnership, which entails handing over nuclear submarines to Australia. According to Beijing, AUKUS could result in the collapse of the nuclear nonproliferation regime.