Gordon Brown: We should have a new global partnership without China and the US
The former prime minister also warns about the potential increase in nuclear weapons and AI’s influence on global conflicts.
Gordon Brown has suggested there should be a new global partnership without China and America.
The former prime minister says international order is breaking down, and revealed he had been speaking to leaders in Africa and there is due to be a meeting at the UN on new “principles of cooperation”.
He also warned that the number of nuclear-armed states could rise from nine to “nearly 20”, and said allowing AI to have greater influence over military decision-making could lead to “ a new world that is very, very dangerous”.
Speaking to The Rest is Politics podcast, he said: “We have got to get, in my view, a coalition of countries that are neither China nor, unfortunately, at the moment America... that set down principles of cooperation.
“And let’s hope that when we set them down, because look, the UN charter was 1945 - the UN charter did lots of great things, still should be the central piece for the way we think about the rules-based order.
“But it didn’t deal with climate change. It didn’t deal with global public goods. It didn’t deal with international terrorism. It didn’t deal with the relationship between the south and the north, which has changed fundamentally. It didn’t deal with women’s equality, for that matter, as well.
“So we need a new set of principles of cooperation.
“This is where I think China and America are the challenge, because if all the other countries, let’s say 120, 130 countries, they’ve agreed to most of the things that I would want to talk about, where there’s international cooperation.
“If they agreed, here are the principles of cooperation, then it’s not China calling the shots as they would like to do or America calling the shots as they would like to do.”
He said that the UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and Japan all want “the same things”, and said it cannot be “another European initiative only”.
Mr Brown said the US’s global leadership is in decline, and that it goes beyond US President Donald Trump.
The former prime minister said many of the global conflicts the world is currently facing, including in Ukraine, Gaza and Taiwan, would not have happened in the past because of the influence of the US.
He said: “There’s about 65 conflicts happening around the world. It’s the biggest number of conflicts since 1946, just after World War II ended, but I describe three seismic shifts in the way the world has developed.
“One, is America is no longer the hegemonic power it used to be, and we’re moving to a multipolar world, so there are many centres of decision-making.
“That doesn’t mean to say that America is not the most important and most powerful power, but it cannot have it in its own way in every respect - and I don’t think 20 years ago Putin would have dared to invade Ukraine.
“I don’t think 15 years ago, Netanyahu would still be effectively in Gaza.
“I remember when I was Prime Minister, he was forced out by the Americans and told to leave Gaza and agreed to do so.
“And I think 10 years ago, Xi would not be threatening to take over Taiwan.
“So the American leadership is under stress and I think that’s a long-term factor, it’s not just dependent on Trump himself.”
During his interview he also warned the number of nuclear-armed states could rise to nearly 20, and said while the public is worried about the cost-of-living crisis, states are most worried about the threat of war.
He said: “What’s happening, unfortunately, is that nine countries have got nuclear weapons.
“But there are nine other countries that are now having to consider, they think, so North Korea’s got nuclear weapons. So Korea thinks if America’s not going to provide shelter for us, well, we’re going to have to do it. Japan then thinks we have to do it,
“But then look at the Middle East and look at Israel’s got nuclear weapons. People say, well what’s Saudi Arabia going to do? It wants nuclear weapons, UAE, and then you’d have Egypt, and then you’d have Turkey.
“And we’ve now got even in Europe, Poland saying that they might have nuclear and Germany thinking if we can’t get a nuclear shield that we can guarantee, then what do we do?
“That’s about another nine countries. So from the time that we thought we’d have only nine nuclear weapon states, we could have nearly 20.
“That is a huge change in the world, and it makes, of course, the prospects of peace more distant.”
The former Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath MP also warned that the growth in AI could drive nuclear escalation.
He pointed to a King’s College study which found that 95 per cent of AI systems would escalate tensions between two countries, and then end up firing nuclear weapons.
Mr Brown said: “If we allowed AI to have that kind of control, or even that kind of advice, then we’re into a world that is very, very dangerous indeed.”
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.