Last Update: May 17, 2023, 05:27 AM IST
Former UK PM Liz Truss has faced allegations at home that she is acting irresponsibly to maintain her political relevance. (Image: Reuters file)
The truce is due to call on Sunak to make good on his Conservative leadership campaign pledge last year to designate China as a strategic “threat”.
British former prime minister Liz Truss, on a visit to Taiwan on Wednesday, will set out a full-scale conflict with both China and its successor, Rishi Sunak, demanding the West toughen up with Beijing.
The truce is due to Sunak’s call to make good on his Conservative leadership campaign pledge last year to designate China as a strategic “threat”, in a speech in Taipei.
She will also demand that he “immediately” close UK-based Confucius Institutes controlled by the communist government and replace them with cultural centers run by people from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The West cannot avoid another “Cold War” with China, the former conservative leader will argue in a speech to the Prospect Foundation in Taipei, according to excerpts released by his office.
“The only choice we have is whether we appease and accommodate – or we take action to prevent conflict.”
The speech would accuse Sunak and other Western governments of “trying to cling to the idea that we can cooperate with China on issues such as climate change, as if nothing is wrong”.
“But without freedom and democracy, there is nothing else. We know what happens to the environment or world health under totalitarian regimes that do not tell the truth.”
“You can’t believe a word they say.”
Sunak pushed back on Truce’s harsh rhetoric against China before and during his 49-day stint at 10 Downing Street last year, when his hardline economic policies rattled financial markets.
Since then, she has been trying to rebuild her profile on Monday with a series of speeches abroad, including in Tokyo, Washington and Copenhagen.
But Truss is facing accusations in his own country that he indulges in irresponsible saber-rattling to maintain his political relevance.
Alicia Kearns, chair of the House of Commons foreign relations committee, told The Guardian newspaper, “(Taiwan) the trip is demonstrative, not genuine.”
Recalling previous criticism of Truss’ relentless self-promotion on social media, the Conservatives said, “This is the worst example of Instagram diplomacy.”
Kearns said the visit was likely to deepen problems for Taiwan after China fired missiles as part of military drills in response to an August visit by then-US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Trus’ spokesman retorted that she was coming at the invitation of the Taiwanese government: “She is in a better position to know what is in the best interests of the Taiwanese people than (Cairns).”
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)
