09 May 2023 , 09:30
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Former Prime Minister Liz Truss will pile pressure on Rishi Sunak to confront China when she delivers a speech in Taiwan next week.
The ex-Premier, whose disastrous 49-day Downing Street reign collapsed in October, is set to meet top members of the Taiwanese government during her trip to the Far East.
She also expected to deliver what aides described as a “keynote speech”, which could earn her tens of thousands of pounds.
Since being forced out of No10 as Britain’s shortest-serving PM, she has tried to forge a niche as a hawk on Beijing, warning of China’s rising military might and growing economic dominance.
Ms Truss said today: “Taiwan is a beacon of freedom and democracy.
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The former PM attended the Coronation with her husband Hugh O'Leary (Getty Images)“I’m looking forward to showing solidarity with the Taiwanese people in person in the face of increasingly aggressive behaviour and rhetoric from the regime in Beijing.”
Ms Truss' visit could create a diplomatic headache for the UK Government which does not recognise Taiwan, nor maintain formal diplomatic relations with the island.
PM Rishi Sunak was blasted by some Conservatives in March when the Government’s updated Integrated Review of security, defence and foreign affairs failed to designate China as a “threat” to the UK.
The document instead referred to the “epoch-defining challenge” it posed to the international order - language not tough enough for some Tories.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who was appointed to the role by Ms Truss and kept the post when Mr Sunak became PM, is widely expected to accept an invitation to visit Beijing within weeks.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly attended the Coronation Reception For Overseas Guests at Buckingham Palace last week (Samir Hussein/WireImage)He is expected to be quizzed about the West’s relationship with China when he speaks at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington later today.
Ms Truss has previously taken swipes at Beijing and is building a post-premiership profile around criticising China.
Speaking at the Heritage Foundation think tank in the American capital last month, Ms Truss described the country as “a totalitarian regime, run by somebody whose explicit aim is to impose their way of thinking on the world and to undermine freedom and democracy, which is what they’ve already done in Hong Kong and are now seeking to do in Taiwan”.
Ms Truss’ speech in Taiwan will come two days after she appears at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit where, according to her spokesman, she will “expand on her thinking on an ‘economic NATO’ where like-minded nations agree to make trade and investment decisions in a way that supports freedom”.
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