By Staff Correspondent
The idea of reinventing the Commonwealth of Nation has been mooted ever since the Britain started the process of costly divorce from the EU, the Brexit. Inevitably, it not only signaled the exit of the UK from the European Union, but also her starting of free dating with nations of the world.
Some of the pro-brexiteers aligned this idea with Boris Johnson’s vision of a Global Britain. In simple terms Johnson’s model is more or less similar to that of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal which put the US’s economy onto a right path of speedy recovery following the Great Depression.
Johnson’s global Britain
It is obvious, against the backdrop of joblessness and the gigantic efforts at home to rebuild the UK’s corona-hit economy, the UK no longer has the capacity to re-emerge itself as soft power on the global arena, nor as a global power.
Once Johnson enunciated his vision of the UK in the Post-Brexit and said that the Brexit would guarantee the Britain what he termed out as ‘a competitive advantage’, allowing it to enter into bilateral and multilateral free-trade deals with the US, China as well as with other countries.
“As Global Britain, our range is not confined to the immediate European hinterland as we see the rise of new powers,” said Mr. Johnson, serving as foreign secretary, in a speech to Chatham House as early as in December 2016. “It is right that we should make a distinctive approach to policymaking, as regards China.”
But, the ground reality is much more stark and difficult to manage than Johnson has imagined. Britain’s ability to stir an independent path outside the US’s sphere of influence becomes increasingly questionable and polemical, when the UK found itself sandwiched between the US and China in the on-going contestations among the first and the second largest economies of the world to become the sole super power in the post-pandemic context.
The Hauwei issue was a litmus test of the UK’s imaginary independence when, pressures mounted on Johnson to pull out the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from building the Britain’s 5G digital network. Some analysts opined that he was virtually pushed against the wall to impose more restrictions on Huawei.
As widely predicted the regime change in the US may not ease Britain’s multiple woes including the handling of delicate Irish issue. Biden, being an ardent Irish-American, would look into the Ireland’s interests and that would not augur well for Britain’s long-term trade relationships with EU (breakthrough in the negotiations seems more elusive than ever before).
It is obvious that Democrats consider The Good Friday Agreement, which ended the sectarian violence in the Northern Ireland as an Article of faith. For some, Global Britain is a mere marketing slogan.
The fact remains that the UK is still a formidable military power, with nuclear weapons and a close intelligence affiliations with the United States and other partners, popularly known as the Five Eyes.
Commonwealth as a trading block
The time is ripe for Britain to form a trading block that will shield it from aggressive trading policies of China. Re-imagining and re-inventing the Commonwealth as a trading block would enable the UK to enhance its role as a soft power and help realise its vision of a Global Britain.
At conceptual level, such a trading bloc would bring about benefits to the Commonwealth of Nations. The trading block would account for 40 per cent of global trading volumes. Besides easing the possible pressure from aggressive trading policies of China, the block would offer novel opportunities and ensure the eventual expansion of the economies of the member nations.
What is noteworthy is that in order to realise that grand vision of a Global Britain, it is imperative for the UK to encourage building up of Commonwealth Institutions in general and commonwealth trading policies in particular. Such a process would, logically, be built upon on well-grounded legal frameworks facilitated by institutions such as the Commonwealth Arbitration Centre to reinvent the Commonwealth as a fully-fledged and vibrant tradition bloc.
