Its role, they say, should be to prepare the way for British trade delegations, to help sell British goods and services, to encourage investment in Britain. The challenge faced by this week’s high-profile meeting is to define a new mission for British diplomacy for the next century.ON THE EVE of the debate the mood among many of Britain’s ruling politicians is that the Foreign Office should be transformed into the marketing arm of Britain plc. The lanes of the global village, political, commercial, social, artistic, medical and many others, pass through London. Britain’s experienced aid organisations combined effectively in Somalia and Rwanda, and they were admired for their achievements.History and tradition gave this country its advantages in international affairs, but something is going wrong. Britain’s relations with the European Union are gravely troubled; its “special relationship” with the United States is weaker than ever; its nuclear deterrent seems unimportant; and its army is reduced.
It seems that as the century ends the old international mission is withering away. It is able to deploy highly trained, well-equipped troops to distant places, whether it be to fight wars, keep peace, provide training or do humanitarian work, and the population at home likes to see them do it.London, moreover, is far more than just a national capital Heathrow is the busiest international airport in the world. The meeting has been called to answer the question, what is the future of British foreign policy?We are used to Britain playing an active role in world affairs. The expression is often used these days that the country “punches above its weight”, by which is meant that its influence is out of proportion to its real modern position in the world. With only 1 per cent of the global population, we have a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, we have an arsenal of modern nuclear weapons, we are a senior member of Nato, the European Union and that distinctive global club known as the Commonwealth.Britain has had a formidable military record, even in recent years. For this is to be an occasion for reflection, soul-searching and perhaps a little mystic gazing into crystal balls. Perhaps no one personality will sum up the character of the gathering more neatly than the guest of honour, the Prince of Wales.
Are widgets the answer? By Richard Dowden and Stephen Castle
ON WEDNESDAY of this week, in the Queen Elizabeth II conference centre, opposite the Houses of Parliament, the Royal Institute for International Affairs will mark its 75th birthday with a meeting of unprecedented character.
The Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary and the shadow Foreign Secretary will be there, along with several hundred dignitaries and pundits including Henry Kissinger. A confused foreign policy reflects a crisis in British identity. The UN plans to evacuate up to 2,000 Turkish Kurd refugees from the Iraqi town of Zakho, away from the 35,000 Turkish troops who invaded the country in a bid to destroy Kurd guerrilla bases
Turkish invasion, Page 16. Such a broad range of interests astonished academics the world over, but Mr Needham did manage to attract criticism for claiming the Americans had used germ warfare in Korea.Fellow of Caius from 1924 and Master from 1966, he became a director of the Needham Research Institute in Cambridge in 1976, where specialists continue to study the impact of China on the world.. His writings encompassed Chinese history, philosophy, mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, medicine, shipbuilding and navigation, to name but a few. “He had an extraordinary range of interests”
His opus covered subjects ranging from history, philosophy and astronomy to acupuncture and navigation.
“He was one of the great men of the century,” said Mr Sturdy, who had been associated with him for more than 70 years. Yesterday, Rev John Sturdy, dean of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, announced that Mr Needham, 94, had died in his sleep. JOSEPH NEEDHAM, regarded as one of the 20th century’s most impressive polymaths, has died. A leading scientist and orientalist, he helped to found Unesco, wrote about socialism and Christianity, made an international reputation in the Thirties as an embryologist and went on to become an established authority on China. And my belief is that we shouldn’t be marginalised in Europe.Leading article, page 26.