David Miliband will attempt to recast British foreign policy in the post-Iraq era tonight, arguing that mistakes there and in Afghanistan should not derail the moral imperative to intervene abroad in the pursuit of spreading democracy.

The Foreign Secretary will cite China’s growing power as a warning that “we can no longer take the forward march of democracy for granted” and urge that Britain renew its commitment to those fighting for democracy under autocratic regimes abroad.

In his speech in Oxford, in honour of the jailed Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, he will refer to the “civilian surge” of thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators who met with brutal repression on the streets of Rangoon last September.

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