Britain was wrong to roll out the red carpet for China in 2015: Liz Truss will warn delegates of the rise of a ‘totalitarian’ Beijing in her first speech since leaving Downing Street
- Truss will speak at the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China Symposium, Tokyo
- Britain rolled out the red carpet for Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2015 visit
The West can stop the rise of totalitarian China, Liz Truss will insist today in her first speech since leaving Downing Street.
The former prime minister will warn a major conference in Japan that ‘the free world is in danger’ with fewer people living in democracies now than 30 years ago.
She will also admit it was a mistake for Britain to have rolled out the red carpet for Chinese president Xi Jinping in a 2015 state visit as the Cameron administration sought a ‘golden era’ of closer ties with China, despite being at his celebratory banquet herself.
Ms Truss will add that it is still possible for the West to stand up to the Communist superpower.
She will make her comments at the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China Symposium in Tokyo, where she will be one of the main speakers alongside former Australian PM Scott Morrison and Belgium’s Guy Verhofstadt.
The West can stop the rise of totalitarian China, Liz Truss, pictured on February 5, will insist today in her first speech since leaving Downing Street
Sunak is under pressure to take a more hardline stance after several unidentified objects were detected in US and Canadian airspace, one of which was revealed to be a huge spy balloon
It is her first public overseas engagement since her short-lived stint in No 10 last autumn, although she travelled to Washington to talk to Republicans in private before Christmas.
In recent weeks she has also sought to rehabilitate her political career in a series of interviews, while her allies are putting pressure on Jeremy Hunt to include significant tax cuts in next month’s Budget.
And her latest intervention will put her successor Rishi Sunak under pressure to take a tougher line on China by officially deeming it a threat in next month’s integrated review of foreign policy, as fears grow over its spy balloons programme and British police’s reliance on its technology.
Ms Truss is expected to tell the assembly of politicians from around the world that they can work together to respond to the ‘strategic issues posed by the People’s Republic of China’.
She will go on: ‘The free world is in danger… We have less of the world’s population living in democracies than was the case 30 years ago.’
Her successor Mr Sunak, pictured on Thursday, has not been as hawkish, only describing China as a ‘systemic challenge to our values and interests’
On the threat posed by Beijing, she will say: ‘Some people say standing up to this regime is a hopeless task; that somehow the rise of a totalitarian China is inevitable. But I reject this fatalism.
‘And the free world has a significant role to play in whether or not that happens – and how.’
Ms Truss will also say the UK went too far in trying to improve relations with China when she was the environment secretary.
‘It wasn’t that long ago that the UK heralded a “golden era” of UK-China relations. We rolled out the red carpet for the Chinese president. I should know – I attended a banquet in his honour,’ she will say, adding: ‘Looking back, I think this sent the wrong message.’
During her short time in Downing Street, Ms Truss planned to formally designate China a threat to the UK for the first time.
Her successor Mr Sunak has not been as hawkish, only describing China as a ‘systemic challenge to our values and interests’ in his first major foreign policy speech.
However he is under pressure to take a more hardline stance after several unidentified objects were detected in US and Canadian airspace, one of which was revealed to be a huge spy balloon.
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