Truss trip to Taiwan ‘is the worst kind of Instagram diplomacy’
LIZ Truss’s planned trip to Taiwan represents the ‘worst kind of Instagram diplomacy’, the Conservative chairman of the foreign affairs select committee has said.
Alicia Kearns, who has urged Rishi Sunak to take a tougher line on China, said his predecessor’s trip was less about constructive dialogue and ‘more about keeping herself relevant’.
The former prime minister last week announced she will be meeting senior Taiwanese government figures and giving a keynote speech – much to the Chinese Communist Party’s frustration.
Ms Kearns said: ‘The trip is performative, not substantive. It is the worst kind of example of Instagram diplomacy.
‘It is deeply unhelpful because it escalates the normal situation in Taiwan. Taiwanese people already have to live with more Chinese military manoeuvres because of Nancy Pelosi’s visit. Liz Truss doesn’t have any influence any more – this is more about keeping herself relevant.’
But Ms Truss’s team hit back, saying she had been invited by the Taiwanese government, adding: ‘ They are better placed to know what is in the interests of the Taiwanese people than the MP for Rutland.
‘The future of Taiwan as a free democracy is at stake... Alicia Kearns should apologise for misusing her position as a select committee chair to engage in petty political attacks.’ Ms Truss has joined a chorus of calls from Tory MPs urging Mr Sunak to avoid engaging with president Xi Jinping over China’s human rights record and territorial coercion. Last month she said the West ‘should be doing all we can to make sure Taiwan has the support it needs to defend itself’.
Victor Gao, a spokesman for the CCP, has said that Ms Truss’s trip risks causing ‘ mortal wounds to ChinauK relations’.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesman has said it is up to individual MPs to choose where they travel.
Last year, Nancy Pelosi, then the speaker of the uS house of Representatives, paid a controversial visit to Taiwan which was also heavily condemned by Chinese officials.
‘The trip is performative’