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CONFIDENTIAL
Chinese Defence Policy
3.
Hostility towards the Soviet Union is the key to China's
current foreign policy; the Soviet Union is seen as an expansionist
power which seeks to dominate its neighbours, and ultimately the
world, and is considered to be pursuing a policy of encircling
China.
China's perception of the Soviet threat has led her to seek
a closer relationship with the West, including the United States,
to encourage greater military and political cohesion in Western
Europe and to accept the need for the NATO alliance as a counter-
weight to the Warsaw Pact.
UK defence relations with China
4.
A tentative start has been made in establishing defence
relations with China. The DGI visited China, informally, in 1975
and this gave rise to a number of suggestions for further visits
and exchanges. For a number of reasons, including internal
upheavals in China, none of these suggestions came to anything until
recently. It has now been agreed that the RCDS should visit China
in the Autumn as an extension of their customary Far East tour.
Most recently, the Chinese have been informed that the CDS wishes to
pay an official visit to China in August of this year; a reply to
this request is awaited. Further visits and exchanges, such as our
reply to an invitation from the Chinese in January for a visit by
representatives of the MOD, will be considered in due course.
However, no mention can be made of any of the above visits, since
they cannot be made public without the agreement of the Chinese
Government and this stage has not yet been reached.
Other defence commitments
5. Brief supplementary answers have been included on the main,
continuing British defence commitments, other than Hong Kong, which
could be described, loosely in some cases, as commitments in the
Far East.
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CONFIDENTIAL
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