Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague speech on foreign policy

Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague speech on foreign policy; William Hague speech continues SOT - My view is that British government is not currently well-equipped to pursue, in a sustained and strategic fashion, the enhancement of key bilateral relationships, driven from the highest levels of government and involving a determined drive to intensify cultural, educational, commercial, diplomatic and in some cases military links. The current government has never adopted such an approach, let alone put energy behind it and the Foreign Office has lacked the weight in government to deliver such an approach in practice. We are determined to change that, using the National Security Council as a key Committee of the Cabinet to bring domestic government departments into the enhancement of key bilateral relationships as part of a programme that will be sustained over many years. The same consistency must apply to our bilateral relationships with Russia and China. We have always said that under a Conservative Government the door will be open to improved relations with Russia. We are under no illusions about the areas in which we differ and about how difficult this task may be, but we have common interests which we must work on together. We have begun this work in Opposition and have established a relationship with our counterparts in Moscow. It is similarly in our strategic national interest to broaden and sustain our dialogue with China, standing firm on human rights but strengthening a relationship in which even when there is a sharp disagreement neither side will walk away. In particular we shall putting our support behind further business and economic cooperation and educational and cultural exchanges. There are many issues where we would like to see China play a bigger role. With economic development come international responsibilities and we look to China to play her part in addressing international challenges. We will also change the present Govern...