Former prime minister will challenge Rishi Sunak to deliver on rhetoric about Beijing being a ‘threat’ to UK
Liz Truss’s trip to Taiwan this week is a “dangerous political stunt”, the Chinese embassy in London has said, as the former prime minister prepares to call on Rishi Sunak to declare Beijing a “threat” to UK security.
She is expected to use a speech in Taipei City on Wednesday to challenge the prime minister to deliver on his rhetoric during last summer’s Conservative party leadership contest, when he declared China “the biggest-long term threat to Britain”. He also promised to close all 30 of the UK’s Confucius Institutes, which promote Chinese culture on campus in higher education and in some British schools.
In a pre-briefed extract of her speech to the Prospect Foundation, Truss is expected to say: “Last summer the now British prime minister described China as ‘the biggest long-term threat to Britain’, and said the Confucius Institutes should be closed. He was right and we need to see those policies enacted urgently.
“The UK’s integrated review needs to be amended to state clearly that China is a threat. Confucius Institutes should be closed down immediately. Instead, the service could be provided by organisations with the support of Hong Kong nationals and Taiwanese nationals who have come to the UK, on a free basis.”
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