Admiral Sir Ben Key, in his first public speech as First Sea Lord, said his underlying message was “focusing solely on the Russian bear risks missing the tiger”. He outlined how Russia’s war in Ukraine was fundamentally changing the European security environment, with historically neutral Finland and Sweden choosing to join the NATO alliance and NATO allies strengthening their defenses across eastern and southeastern Europe. Moscow “represents an almost and present danger to us and we must respond,” Admiral Key said, speaking at a conference on Tuesday in London held by the Geostrategy Council. “So if we in Western militaries move to ensure that we can prevent further aggression along the borders of eastern Europe, Putin has by his actions created a new iron curtain from the Baltic to the Black Sea.” The term “iron curtain” was used to describe the gap between the Soviet Union and the Western allies during the Cold War. In recent weeks, Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, accused NATO of pulling back the “iron curtain” in Europe as it moved troops, ships and warplanes to protect the alliance’s borders after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine is not a member of NATO but wants to be. Still focused on the invasion, the First Sea Lord condemned Russia for effectively using its navy to close off the coast of Ukraine, causing a global shortage of vital grain. “The world is being held for ransom by a sea blockade, it’s so intense,” he said. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 5:56 How will China respond to the Ukraine war? But the UK and its allies must also be prepared to deal with an increasingly powerful China, which has a national income 10 times that of Russia and spends more than four times as much on its military capabilities. “To use a naval analogy, we have to make sure we scan our binoculars over the entire horizon,” said Navy Cmdr. “The danger in focusing solely on Russia … is that you miss the long-term, strategic challenge posed by China … while we see Russia as a clear and present danger, China poses a long-term challenge.” Image: Admiral Sir Ben Key. Photo: Royal Navy He said the Chinese Communist Party – as well as Western allies – would learn lessons from the war in Ukraine and how the West responded to Russia’s aggression. “China is indeed one of the great beneficiaries of this conflict,” said the First Sea Lord. “Because we may have overestimated in some areas Moscow’s military capabilities, we must be wary of underestimating Beijing’s.” It was referring to how Russia’s armed forces failed in a lightning strike on Kyiv in the first weeks of the war in Ukraine – exposing the military as far less capable than most Western analysts expected. Read more: Russian cyberspies target NATO allies Europe will be ‘much less safe’ if NATO doesn’t push back Putin’s forces In Asia, a young democracy sits alongside an authoritarian giant in a mirror of Europe Admiral Key said Ukraine’s experience demonstrated the importance of alliances for the world’s democracies in the face of authoritarian threats – something that could be applied to help keep the peace around Taiwan, a key flashpoint when it comes to China. China has warned it could take control of the democratically-ruled region by force if necessary. “Our Chinese friends may argue that alliances … are only things that weak countries should do, but history shows that this thinking is wrong,” Admiral Key said. “The evidence is that states that don’t build alliances are the ones that ultimately fail.”
