|
UK hints at foreign policy shift
13/07/2007 11:38 - (SA)
London - A close ally of new Prime Minister Gordon Brown has hinted at a change to Britain's relationship with the United States, saying a nation's strength should no longer be measured by military might.
International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander, Brown's former speechwriter, said in a speech in Washington late on Thursday that more emphasis should be placed in the modern world on "soft power" and multi-lateralism.
"In the 20th century, a country's might was too often measured in what they could destroy. In the 21st century, strength should be measured on what we can build together," he told the Council on Foreign Relations think-tank.
"And so, we must form new alliances, based on common values, ones not just to protect us from the world, but ones which reach out to the world."
Alexander's speech is the first abroad by one of Brown's senior ministers since he took over on June 27 from Tony Blair, whose support for the United States in Iraq hastened his departure from office.
'Coded criticisms'
The Times called his comments "a series of coded criticisms" of Bush, who is facing mounting opposition over its strategy in Iraq, while The Guardian said it represented a call for Washington to "rethink" its foreign policy.
"We need to demonstrate by our deeds, words and our actions that we are internationalist, not isolationist, multilateralist, not unilateralist, active and not passive, and driven by core values, consistently applied, not special interests," Alexander said.
He accepted extremism sometimes had to be confronted with military might and stuck to Blair's view that issues like fighting poverty, rebalancing trade and tackling climate change were all interconnected.
Blair rejected anti-American sentiment and said the active engagement of the United States was vital to addressing the world's problems.
For his part Brown, who met Bush in the White House earlier this year, repeated his view that relations between the two countries would continue to be robust.
"The relationship between the British prime minister and the US president will always be strong and we will always work together so that we can solve common problems," he told BBC radio on Friday.
- AFP
|
News
