China would make “a catastrophic miscalculation” if it invaded Taiwan, Liz Truss said, telling the NATO summit that the United Kingdom and other countries should reconsider trade relations with countries that used economic power in ways. ” coercive “.
As a sign of how much the UK government’s attitudes towards China have changed since the self-proclaimed “golden decade” under David Cameron, the British Secretary of State said trade should be directed to countries that could be trusted.
Speaking at the Madrid summit, Truss said that with China expanding its strategic ambitions, the new NATO strategic concept should refer specifically to China. The basic mission of the alliance was last updated in 2010 and needs to be reviewed.
Truss’s comments came a day after he called for faster action to help Taiwan with defensive weapons in case China invaded, saying it was a key lesson from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“I believe that with China extending its influence through economic coercion and building a capable army, there is a real risk that they will come up with a misconception that translates into a catastrophic miscalculation such as invading Taiwan.” said Truss, speaking next to Anthony Albanese. the Australian Prime Minister, and Alexander De Croo, the Belgian Prime Minister.
One of the areas addressed at the G7 summit in southern Germany, which ended earlier this week, was efforts to provide more money for Western infrastructure in developing countries, a response to the “belt” program. and China’s “highway” that seeks to influence through similar investments.
Given the threat from both China and Russia, there was a “need to reach out and create this network of freedom from other countries with like-minded ideas,” Truss said.
G7 countries and nations like Australia should use their “economic weight” to challenge China, he said, adding that countries like the UK could even rethink their approach to trade with Beijing.
“I think we haven’t historically used that economic power,” he said. “We have been equidistant, if you will, with whom we negotiate, with whom we work. And I think countries are focusing a lot more now, this is trade with confidence, do we trust this partner? Will they use it to undermine us or will they use it for the mutual benefit of our economies? So trade has become much more geopolitical. “
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Speaking to the Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday, Truss went beyond the standard language of government in Taiwan by saying that defensive weapons needed to be provided to the island.
“We should have done things sooner. We should have been supplying defensive weapons to Ukraine sooner,” he said. “We have to learn this lesson for Taiwan. Every team we send in requires months of training, so the sooner we do it, the better.”