Asian countries could join Five Eyes alliance, says Wallace

BEN WALLACE has said that the UK is looking to expand the Five Eyes alliance by recruiting more countries in order to “send a message to China”.

The Defence Secretary told a Conservativehome event at the Tory party conference that the UK would look to partner with other countries as part of the intelligence alliance which consists of the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

He said: “We would absolutely continue to explore more working with new partners in Asia, and deepening our Five Eyes. Mutual help and mutual signalling about standing by each other is really important for us sending a message to China.

“We are already working around some Asia groupings that allow international observers or indeed partner status. So we will be doing more of that.”

Relations have been strained between Beijing and the UK after Boris Johnson bowed to the demands of backbench MPS in July, and banned Huawei from the 5G network, with the agreement to strip out all of its existing infrastructure over the next few years.

Earlier this year, Mr Wallace wrote in this newspaper that the UK will bolster

its ability to fend off threats from China in space. He has previously said that the UK needs to be able to fight wars without leaning on the US.

Mr Wallace has also said that rather than always expecting to go into conflicts in coalition with the US, “we are going to have to make decisions that allow us to stand with a range of allies, the Five Eyes and our European allies where our interests converge”.