Liz Truss criticises China’s response to Pelosi’t Taiwan visit

Liz Truss criticised China's inflammatory response to a senior US politician visiting Taiwan and called for a de-escalation ahead of military drills expected over the coming days.

After the US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ended a historic trip to the island about 100 miles east of China, the UK foreign secretary said that her meetings with human rights activists and others were perfectly reasonable and Beijing reacted with hostility to Pelosi's visit, announcing a series of military operations including missile tests and live-fire exercises in the waters around Taiwan scheduled to begin on Wednesday night.

As Pelosi travelled to the next leg of her tour through east Asian countries, Truss expressed support for the decision to visit the self-ruled nation, which China sees as a breakaway province.

Truss said he did not support China's inflammatory language on this issue, but said he was in Ludlow, Shropshire, as part of her campaign to become the next Conservative leader and prime minister.

I urge China to de-escalate and it is perfectly reasonable what is taking place. Truss tried to play down the suggestion that she is the clear frontrunner in the race to replace Boris Johnson.

A latest poll of Conservative members by YouGov put Truss nearly 40 points ahead on Wednesday, with 69%, over Rishi Sunak's 31%. Only 39% of the Tory grassroots believe that the party will win a majority at the next election under Truss compared to 19% under Sunak's leadership.

Truss said she was not taking anything for granted and added: There is still a long way to go in this leadership election. She and Sunak will address Tory members at a hustings in Cardiff on Wednesday night.

Truss remains foreign secretary and has tried to rubbish Sunak's bid to appear tough on China.

The Conservative MP and Sunak supporter Alicia Kearns said that the Chinese Communist Party tried to make Pelosi's visit a flashpoint. She told BBC Radio 4 s World at One: They have placed this enormous strategic importance on the visit when they could actually have dismissed it as nothing more than a political stunt or a low-level delegation.

They have chosen to draw a line in the sand and I think that shows how worried they are and how important this is for Xi Jinping as he attempts to reconsolidate his position going into the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. Kearns confirmed that MPs on the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee are expected to visit Taiwan later this year.

She said that we visit allies all over the world, we also visit our friends and we try to understand the biggest issues facing our country and also international security.

During her trip to Taiwan, Pelosi pledged crucial support from the US, adding that the White House was committed to the security of Taiwan. She said that Taiwan has been an example to the world, and Taiwan has shared our values of democracy and freedom.