by Mark Curtis, Declassified UK, 5 October 2023 The Ukraine conflict is but the most recent case where UK policy-makers and weapons manufacturers seek commercial opportunities from devastating wars – often by arming both sides. When my colleagues Phil Miller and Matt Kennard visited the world’s largest arms fair in London last month, they found weapons manufacturers […]
Topic: China
by Mark Curtis, Declassified UK, 13 September 2022 70 years ago the UK stepped up a brutal colonial intervention in Malaya, presenting it as a war against Chinese communism. British forces herded hundreds of thousands of people into fortified camps, heavily bombed rural areas and resorted to extensive propaganda to win the conflict. The so-called […]
by Mark Curtis and Richard Norton-Taylor, Declassified UK, 8 June 2022 ‘Global Nato’. Help Taiwan ‘defend itself’. Recover the ‘whole’ of Ukraine. Promote ‘the free world’ – UK foreign policy under Liz Truss has become a series of empty slogans from a declining power desperate to remain a major one. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, foreign […]
By Mark Curtis, Declassified UK, 7 June 2021 While British ministers claim China is an increasing threat to UK interests, they have approved the sale of £2.6-billion worth of military and dual civilian/military equipment to the country in the last three years. The exports will likely benefit China’s navy and airforce – as the UK […]
by Mark Curtis, Declassified UK, 1 February 2021 Declassified UK’s analysis of the written outputs of three of Sky News’ principal foreign affairs journalists has found that the media outlet acts largely to amplify the views of the British Ministry of Defence and Foreign Office, while rarely offering critical, independent analysis. A study by Declassified, […]
Documents Prime Minister’s Office, ‘China: Internal Situation‘ (National Archives, PREM 19/257, May-July 1989) Articles Hong Kong ‘Declassified British files show how Beijing tried to stifle 1990s democratic reform in Hong Kong with airport finance negotiations‘ (South China Morning Post, 29 December 2017) ‘Declassified files: UK warned in 1989 it would be “impotent” if Hong Kong […]