UK’s Liz Truss heads to Taiwan after string of hawkish China speeches

LONDON — Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss will visit Taiwan next week as she continues a hawkish post-premiership streak on China.

Truss, whose turbulent administration collapsed after just 49 days last year, will “deliver a keynote speech and is expected to meet senior members of the Taiwanese government,” her spokesperson said Tuesday.

The trip takes her to the site of a key flashpoint in China’s relationship with the West. China claims the self-governing Taiwan as its territory, but the U.S. has promised to arm and defend the island.

Truss has repeatedly made her views on Taiwan clear. She said last month that the West “should be doing all we can to make sure Taiwan has the support it needs to defend itself,” and took a direct swipe at French President Emmanuel Macron for warning in an interview with POLITICO that Europeans must not “become followers” of the U.S. on the issue.

In remarks briefed out ahead of the visit, Truss said: “Taiwan is a beacon of freedom and democracy. I’m looking forward to showing solidarity with the Taiwanese people in person in the face of increasingly aggressive behavior and rhetoric from the regime in Beijing.”

China has not taken kindly in the past to Western politicians visiting Taiwan, attacking a trip by then-Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi last year as “a gross interference in China’s internal affairs.”