General Sir Nick Carter said: 'What often follows a very significant economic event is a security challenge'
Credit: Stefan Rousseau/PA
Britain’s military chief has warned that coronavirus has led to the erection of "nationalist barriers" and economic crises reminiscent of the lead-up to the Second World War.
General Sir Nick Carter, the Chief of the Defence Staff, said the "security challenges" presented by the pandemic are similar to those faced in the 1930s.
In an interview with The Telegraph, the UK’s most senior military commander argued that better global co-operation is needed to tackle the virus crisis and its economic impact.
"What you generally find with a crisis like this, which becomes an economic crisis, is that it then undermines the stability and security situation as well," he said. "What often follows a very significant economic event is a security challenge.
"If you look at the 1930s, that started with a significant economic crash, and that acted as a very destabilising feature. There are moments in history when significant economic challenges have led to security challenges because they act as a destabiliser."
The economic crisis caused by the Great Depression was linked to the rise of fascism in Europe and ultimately to the outbreak of the Second World War. Deepening global tensions are developing over Covid, with mounting concerns over supplies of vaccines and the closures of borders.
Sir Nick said: "There has been some unity with the vaccine, but generally speaking people have put up nationalist barriers – and that does not exactly help you with security and stability. What the virus has revealed is some fault lines internationally, but also within society."
It is his starkest hint yet that the world could face another large-scale conflict. Previously, he has warned that escalating competition between states could lead to "miscalculation" that resulted in a war.
The uneven effects of the virus crisis and rollout of vaccines across the globe have led to tensions. China has faced allegations of covering up the origins of the pandemic after the initial outbreak was said to have originated from the Chinese city of Wuhan.
A Russian disinformation campaign has been accused of undermining public health and spreading fear by making false claims about the Oxford vaccine and its links to monkeys. Commercial motives may have been at play, as it was directed at nations where Moscow wants to sell its Sputnik V jab.
Meanwhile, arguments have broken out over vaccine supplies in Europe, with the EU widely rebuked for temporarily triggering Article 16 of the Brexit protocol to block doses travelling from the bloc to the UK.
Sir Nick warned that the different approaches taken by rival states to tackling the pandemic could lead to increased tensions around the world. "Covid has asked some very big questions about your supply chains and how you protect your people," he said.
He said the steepest challenge will come when the worst effects of the pandemic start to recede, explaining: "We will be confronted with a couple of big choices. There will be a big choice between totalitarian surveillance and citizen empowerment, and there will be a big choice between global solidarity and nationalist isolation."
His intervention comes ahead of the publication of the Government’s Integrated Review next month, which Boris Johnson has vowed will be the biggest overhaul of foreign, defence and security policy since the Cold War.
The Prime Minister has already awarded the Ministry of Defence a significant funding boost, worth an extra £16 billion in real terms over the next four years.
The differences between the way Western democracies and authoritarian states such as China have responded to the pandemic will result in people questioning which form of government they prefer, Sir Nick said. "How have nations done that are democratic as opposed to those that are less democratic? It has brought things into better perspective," he added.
He believes the only way to avoid a rerun of the 1930s is for improved global co-operation on key issues.
"My view is that global solidarity is what you need to deal with so many of the challenges and threats we face today, whether it is violent extremism, climate change or problems like Covid," he said. "These are problems that have to be solved globally."
Sir Nick also warned that the pandemic was taking place against a deteriorating global situation, which had seen a marked increase in state-based threats emerging during the past three or four years.
He said the support provided by the estimated 6,000 military personnel who have been supporting the NHS and other agencies involved in tackling the pandemic had helped the public to acquire a better understanding of the military.
"In the past we have been popular with the British public, but we were not well understood," he said. "As a result of the pandemic, people have learnt a lot about our adaptability and innovation and planning ability."
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