Array
One of British politics’ firmest critics of China became prime minister on Tuesday as Liz Truss, a self-styled defender of the post-war western world order, replaced Boris Johnson whose policy towards Beijing failed to harden fast enough for many in his party.
Relations between London and Beijing have worsened in the last decade as Britain has grown worried that an open door to Chinese investment could pose national security risks, and that China’s military and economic assertiveness may be acting against its post-Brexit free trade agenda.
Truss views China as a threat to the rules-based international order that has governed post-World War Two trade and diplomacy, and she sees it as her role to build a bulwark against that.
“Countries must play by the rules and that includes China,” she said in a high-profile speech earlier this year, adding that Beijing was “rapidly building a military capable of projecting power deep into areas of European strategic interest”.
Truss warned that if China failed to play by global rules it would cut short its rise as a superpower and it should learn from the West’s robust economic response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
She said that China’s rise was not inevitable and the West should ensure that Taiwan, which Beijing says is its own territory, can defend itself.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen sent her congratulations to Truss, with her office noting that the new prime minister, during China’s recent military drills near the island, “stepped forward and called on the global democratic camp to continue to ensure that Taiwan has the ability to defend itself”.
