Opinion | China should ignore Liz Truss's Taiwan stunt- It isn't worth it
By Tom Fowdy
Laughing stock former British Prime Minister Liz Truss is heading to Taiwan on Tuesday, where of course she will seek to make a number of provocative comments against China. Truss, who is the shortest serving Prime Minister in the country's history, was forced to resign after just little more than a month in office following a disastrous "mini-budget" which decimated the British pound and provoked a financial crisis. Her tenure in Downing Street had come amidst her self-modeling as an ultranationalist and NeoConservative fanatic as Foreign Secretary who sought a confrontational stance against Beijing, who would have almost certainly destroyed Britain's relationship with China given the chance
Now, as all political right-wing has-beens tend to end up, she is traveling to Taipei. She joins such a great cohort of names who have also made the trip recently, having been paid astronomical figures by Tsai Ing-wen's government to come and posture, including Mike Pompeo, Scott Morrison, Tony Abbott, John Bolton, you certainly get the jist of it. The British government, who is trying to take a more moderate position on its ties with Beijing recently, distanced itself from Truss's adventurism, stressing their policy on Taiwan had "not changed".
China should appreciate the British government's effort at diplomatic reassurances and not retaliate to this publicity stunt by the disastrous former Prime Minister, either for that matter against Britain or the island itself, which will play into their hands. Upon having been thrust out of Downing Street, Liz Truss is now framing her career using her former status as a "disrupter" from the back benches in a similar light to how former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith does, taking an overtly zealous position on a given issue (previously Brexit) and then trying to incite right-wing rebellions to undermine the government's position.
On the other hand, the DPP in Taiwan are frontloading as many political figures as they can to visit the island in a protracted series of publicity stunts to try and undermine the respective countries' commitments to the One China Policy and build support for themselves. This has included sponsoring scores of Parliamentary delegations to visit too. It is designed to be deliberately provocative, knowing of course that Beijing will react, and then framing that reaction as an act of "aggression" in turn. They have subsequently identified hawkish figures such as Liz Truss as their best source of support, despite the fact in Britain itself she has minimal credibility and is perceived as a joke by most of the public amidst her tenure. She's no more statesman-like than her equally shambolic predecessor, Boris Johnson, who has not jumped on the Taiwan bandwagon amidst his own personal liking for China.
Given this, to turn the Liz Truss visit into a drama and crisis would be a mistake. The mainstream media have already covered her visit extensively, having of course found they like her new "Anti-China" branding and any large-scale negative reaction by Beijing will only give her further publicity to push her narrative. To give her any attention is to psychologically acknowledge she actually has a stake in influencing the UK-China relationship, despite not being an office holder anymore beyond that of an MP, and in doing so gives her authority she doesn't have. Thus the single best solution to this whole farce should be to ignore her, completely. Who is Liz Truss? Why does she matter? The answer is she doesn't, she's just a joke of a former Prime Minister who had to resign within a month for crashing the UK economy.
In ignoring her, despite the fact that Britain's foreign policy remains duly influenced and under the thumb of the United States, the recent signaling by the Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, should not be ignored and despite his lecturing on some issues, should be interpreted as positive, not negative. Although the existence of right-wing agitators such as Liz Truss prevents the UK-China relationship from growing meaningfully closer, as well as the US, there is nonetheless some opportunity to stabilize things, and it is precisely for that reason why Taiwan has asked her to come now, because Taipei uses stunts like this to try and sabotage China's relations with other countries, and does well at it so to speak. The answer is to keep cool and simply ignore her, and the visit will prove meaningless.
The author is a well-seasoned writer and analyst with a large portfolio related to China topics, especially in the field of politics, international relations and more. He graduated with an Msc. in Chinese Studies from Oxford University in 2018.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
Read more articles by Tom Fowdy:
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