Liz Truss, who continues to hold the title of shortest-serving prime minister in UK political history following her resignation last year, nonetheless still wants to be in the papers, as she has now made âdangerousâ remarks on a matter of foreign policy.
While her successor as PM and Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak was getting ready to visit Japan for the G7 summit, the ex-foreign secretary was giving a speech to The Prospect Foundation in Taiwan in which she warned of the increasing threat of âauthoritarian regimes around the worldâ.
She told attendees: âYou here in Taiwan know what the threat is, and you know what the alternative is. Itâs tyranny, instead of freedom; itâs control, not choice; itâs arbitrary decisions made, rather than proper justice.
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âThe reason you know what that threat is, is only 80 miles away, there is a totalitarian regime where that is a reality.â
That would be China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory.
Their spokesperson at the Chinese Embassy in London has since branded Ms Trussâs visit to Taiwan as a âprovocative moveâ and âdangerous political show which will do nothing but harm to the UKâ.
So what else did she say?
1. âFatalismâ is the biggest danger to Taiwanâs future
She said: âI believe that the biggest danger to the future of Taiwan is fatalism â not on your part, but a fatalism in the free world that somehow a Chinese takeover of Taiwan is inevitable.â
Her speech also took aim at unnamed âEuropean nationalsâ and said it was âcompletely irresponsibleâ for them to âwash their hands of Taiwan because itâs a long way away or not a core part of our concernsâ.
2. Chinaâs Communist Party is âengaging in [an] ideological struggleâ with âthe free worldâ
Noting that China is the worldâs largest economy, the South West Norfolk MP said the country wants to âuse this position to gain prominenceâ.
But itâs likely for this reason â amongst others â that Ms Truss called on the West to âtake action nowâ to âensure weâre preparedâ if they have to cut ties with China like theyâve done with Russia following its illegal invasion of Ukraine last year.
3. A suggestion the West should learn from the sanctions it placed on Russia
After Vladimir Putinâs Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the UK government announced sanctions against the country and its oligarchs, and former business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng â the chancellor under Ms Trussâs government, by the way â claimed Britons are willing to suffer âhardshipâ as a result of the UK economy being hit by the war in Ukraine.
A month after the conflict began, industry leaders warned consumers face months of food price hikes due to supply issues.
While ministers suggested the war in Ukraine may have played a part in the ongoing cost of living crisis, money saving expert Martin Lewis warned of âpotentially a deliberate narrative shiftâ in blaming the invasion for the UKâs economic challenges and that it is âa worsening of the situationâ rather than the âcauseâ.
Referencing the Westâs response to Russia and President Putin, Ms Truss told The Prospect Foundation: âIf Beijing keeps its word, and escalates aggression towards Taiwan, substantial decoupling will be unavoidable. If we fail to prepare for this, the consequent economic pain will be felt by all of our people across the free world.â
4. A review of international organisations and partnerships
Ms Truss also used her speech to take aim at existing collaborations and partnerships with western countries amid the rising threat from China.
âLetâs be honest, we canât rely now on the UN Security Council, which was recently chaired by Putinâs Russia. And we canât rely on the World Trade Organisation to make sure fair trade rules are in place. That is why we need to find other alternatives to get things done.
âIt is also vital that China is blocked from being a member of the CPTPP and I encourage the United Kingdom government to say this publicly, as well as governments of Japan, Canada and our other allies.â
The CPTPP, by the way, is the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, whose members include Australia, Canada, Japan and New Zealand â a partnership which China has applied to join.
She also said the UKâs integrated review â which sees the government examine its âsecurity, defence, development and foreign policy prioritiesâ â needs to be âamended to make it clear China is a threatâ.
So if these partnerships and alliances are no good and we need a âmore coordinated approachâ on defence, what does Ms Truss propose instead?
5. An âeconomic Natoâ
Ms Truss expressed her desire to see the formation of a financial version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), the military alliance made up of European and North American countries, to establish âcoordination between countries which support freedom and proper free enterpriseâ.
She explained: âThis group includes the G7 and it includes the EU but it could also include South Korea, Australia and other willing parties.
âThis would be an organisation that had proper ministerial representation, and the right policies in place to agree the best approach towards China â the best approach to take on technology exports, the best approach on economic coercion, the best approach on trade and investment.
âNow thereâs a very obvious group of countries that could get together to do that, and thatâs a group of countries that have already put sanctions on Russia that I was proud to take a lead on as foreign secretary and as prime minister.â
6. Risk of another Cold War
Ms Truss warned: âThere are many in the West who say we donât want another Cold War, but we have to be clear that this is not a choice that we are in a position to make.â
Cheeryâ¦
7. âChinese global dominanceâ is a bigger issue than climate change
In one of the more eyebrow-raising remarks from Ms Truss, the Conservative politician argued: âThere is still too many in the West who are trying to cling on to the idea that we can somehow cooperate with China on issues like climate change as if thereâs nothing wrong as if there are bigger issues than Chinese global dominance on the future of freedom and democracy.
âBut without freedom and democracy, there is nothing else. We know what happens to the environment or to world health under totalitarian regimes that donât tell the truth: we canât believe a word they say.â
And at the same time, Ms Truss added: âWeâre not going to beat China economically by becoming more like China. We need to make sure free democracies have small governance, lower taxes and less bureaucracy, so people want to invest in our countries.â
Lower taxes, of course, being a policy agenda she pursued with her disastrous âmini-budgetâ which terminated her premiershipâ¦
And this intervention from Ms Truss has since been called out by many people online:
\u201cLiz Truss in Taiwan calls for \u2018economic Nato\u2019 to challenge China\n\nWHAT is she doing?\n\u2066@RishiSunak\u2069 hasn\u2019t sent her there!\nShe needs to lose the whip surely? \n( Along with Breverman - for different reasons) https://t.co/9SgPMI5nZ9\u201dâ Claire \u2618\ufe0f\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa \ud83d\udc1f #RejoinEU #UBI (@Claire \u2618\ufe0f\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa \ud83d\udc1f #RejoinEU #UBI) 1684304255
\u201cLiz Truss speech in Taiwan is even more unhinged than I feared.\n\nShe calls to stop *any* cooperation with China, including on climate change, because that'd destroy "freedom and democracy" which is more important than the survival of the human race \ud83e\udd21\nhttps://t.co/MBOMfvqiho\u201dâ Arnaud Bertrand (@Arnaud Bertrand) 1684282412
\u201cImagine having a record like Liz Truss and deciding that what the potentially massively volatile conflict between China and Taiwan really needs right now is an intervention from you. https://t.co/GVnNFZ4Pfh\u201dâ Adam Bienkov (@Adam Bienkov) 1683635359
\u201c2014: Liz Truss will be visiting China\u2019s capital Beijing to open up new pork markets\n\n2023: Liz Truss urges Sunak to class China as 'threat' to UK security\u201dâ Barry Halverson (@Barry Halverson) 1684306396
\u201cPeople are being very harsh about Liz Truss today. But absolutely banjaxing a country is very moreish. It\u2019s hard to just go cold turkey.\u201dâ Tom Sutcliffe (@Tom Sutcliffe) 1684325444
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