In a speech that could worsen Britain’s relations with Beijing, former British prime minister Liz Truss will argue in Taiwan on Wednesday that the West must assist Taiwan and not appease China.
Truss is the most prominent British politician to visit Taiwan since Margaret Thatcher in the 1990s, and her tour coincides with the worst relations between Britain and China in decades.
She represents the Conservative Party’s hawkish side that rejects the British government’s strategy to China, which comprises engaging in commerce and climate change while limiting national security dangers.
Truss will say it would be “completely irresponsible” for European nations to suggest that Taiwan is too far away or unimportant.
China continues to use force to unify Taiwan. Beijing has criticized British parliamentarians’ visits to Taiwan as interference in China’s domestic affairs.
“We must support free democracies like Taiwan in the face of aggression from a Chinese regime whose record is all too clear for the world to see,” Truss will say, according to speech excerpts. “Appeasement and accommodation or conflict prevention are our only options.”
Truss has made speeches to rehabilitate her political reputation and encourage her successor, Rishi Sunak, to take a harder stance on several issues after being thrown out of power in a record 49 days last October over unfunded tax cuts that rocked the financial markets.
Her visit was called a “dangerous political show which will do nothing but harm to the United Kingdom” by a Chinese Embassy spokesperson in London.
Last month, British foreign minister James Cleverly said it would be a mistake to isolate Beijing and that collaboration in climate change is vital.
“There are still too many in the West who are trying to cling to the idea that we can cooperate with China on climate change,” Truss will remark. “Nothing exists without freedom and democracy.”
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