Britain’s former prime minister Liz Truss has been criticised by Beijing as she used a speech in Taiwan on Wednesday to warn of the threat China poses to both the island and to the West.
Speaking as part of a five-day visit to the island that has rattled the government in Beijing, Ms Truss told reporters: “It’s absolutely clear that President Xi [Jinping of China] has the ambition to take Taiwan.”
She continued: “Now, we don’t know exactly when that could take place, we also don’t know how, and it’s my view that the preference of President Xi and the Chinese Communist Party would be to do it in a way that doesn’t involve using force, but I certainly think they would be prepared to use force if necessary.
“All we can do, those of us who believe in freedom and democracy, is make sure that Taiwan is as protected as possible and the Chinese government would understand there are severe consequences if they tried to take Taiwan by force.”
Ms Truss, who was the prime minister of the UK for 44 days, is the first British leader to visit Taiwan since Margaret Thatcher in 1996.
In an address in Taipei, she said that “there are those who say they don’t want another Cold War”.
“But this is not a choice we are in a position to make. Because China has already embarked on a self-reliance drive, whether we want to decouple from their economy or not.
“China is growing its navy at an alarming rate and is undertaking the biggest military build-up in peacetime history. They have already formed alliances with other nations that want to see the free world in decline. They have already made a choice about their strategy. The only choice we have is whether we appease and accommodate – or we take action to prevent conflict.”
In a statement issued the morning before Ms Truss’s speech, the Chinese government called her visit a “dangerous political stunt”.
A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in London said Ms Truss’s trip was a “dangerous political show which will do nothing but harm to the UK”.
The statement added: “We urge the relevant British politician to correct her wrongdoing, stop making political shows with the Taiwan question and stop conniving at and supporting ‘Taiwan independence’ secessionist forces.”
Taiwan has been self-ruled since a civil war with the mainland after the Second World War. Beijing claims the island as a breakaway province and Mr Xi has previously vowed to “reunite” it with mainland China, while at the same time pressuring other countries from maintaining diplomatic relations with Taipei.
Ms Truss is meeting Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen during her visit, Radio Taiwan International reported. However, the government has not confirmed the meeting yet.
Back at home in the UK, Ms Truss’s visit to Taiwan was called “the worst kind of Instagram diplomacy” by fellow Conservative MP Alicia Kearns.
China has marked previous high-profile visits to the island with major displays of military might. Last year, following the visit by then US House speaker Nancy Pelosi, Beijing staged several days of unprecedented live-fire military exercises and test-fired missiles over Taiwan.
