China Calls Truss's Taiwan Visit 'A Dangerous Stunt'

Britain’s former prime minister Liz Truss has been criticised by Beijing as she used a speech in Taiwan yesterday to warn of the threat China poses to both the island and to the West.

- MAROOSHA MUZAFFAR

Speaking as part of a five-day visit to the island that has rattled in Beijing, Ms Truss told reporters: "It's the government 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.”