Liz Truss will label China a “threat” to national security if she becomes prime minister next week, it has emerged.
The Tory leaders’ favorite is poised to give China a similar status to Russia as part of a rethink of Britain’s foreign policy should it enter Downing Street.
As part of last year’s ‘integrated assessment’, Russia was described as an ‘acute threat’ to British security.
It has been reported that Ms. Truss will rank China in the same terms if she replaces Boris Johnson at number 10.
The foreign minister’s move to refocus on the Beijing threat was praised by her supporters.
Her leadership campaign is backed by some of China’s fiercest critics in the House of Commons, such as former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Tom Tugendhat, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee.
But Lord Ricketts, a former national security adviser, suggested a more “nuanced” stance was needed on China, as opposed to Britain’s stance on Russia.
Liz Truss stands ready to grant China a similar status to Russia as part of a rethink of Britain’s foreign policy should she enter Downing Street
Last month, it was alleged that Ms Truss’ rival for Tory leadership, Rishi Sunak, was close to signing a new economic agreement with China when he was chancellor.
According to The timesMs. Truss’s tougher line on China will come as part of an effort to curb the Treasury Department’s efforts to strengthen economic cooperation with Beijing.
Last month, it was alleged that Ms Truss’ rival for Tory leadership, Rishi Sunak, was close to signing a new economic agreement with China when he was chancellor.
A source in the Truss campaign told the paper: “Liz has tightened the UK’s stance on Beijing since he became Foreign Secretary and would continue to take an aggressive stance as Prime Minister.
“She has been active in invoking China’s economic coercion, working with the G7 and other allies to mobilize investment in low- and middle-income countries as a counterweight to China’s Belt and Road initiative.”
Ms Truss had already used her Tory leadership campaign to promise an update to last year’s integrated assessment — with a renewed focus on China and Russia — should she become prime minister.
The issue of China has become one of the main hotbeds in the battle for number 10 between Ms Truss and Mr Sunak – including the row over whether Mr Sunak had sought closer economic ties with China while he was head of the Treasury.
Sunak himself has also vowed to take a stern stance on Beijing if he becomes prime minister and has previously accused his rival of helping facilitate Chinese infiltration of British universities.
The former chancellor promises to close all Confucius institutes, which teach Mandarin in universities and schools but are affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party, if he becomes prime minister.
His campaign team noted how nine of Britain’s 31 Confucius centers were set up when Ms Truss was Minister of Education between 2012 and 2014.
But the Foreign Secretary’s team rejected Mr Sunak’s claim, pointing out how Michael Gove – who recently expressed his support for the former chancellor – was in charge of the education department at the time.
Ms. Truss’s allies have also praised the Global Times, China’s largest state-run tabloid newspaper, for Sunak’s “pragmatic vision” of strengthening trade ties between London and Beijing.
Earlier this month, the Foreign Secretary faced a backlash after a recording was released complaining that British workers do not have a ‘graft’.
She heard the ‘work culture’ in parts of the UK outside London compare unfavorably with the attitudes of Chinese workers.
In the 2021 Integrated Review of Britain’s security, defence, development and foreign policy, Russia was named ‘the most acute threat to our security’.
In contrast, China was described as a ‘systemic challenge’ to the security, prosperity and values of the UK.
“We will continue to pursue a positive trade and investment relationship with China while ensuring our national security and values are protected,” the review added.
‘We will also work with China to tackle transnational challenges such as climate change.’
Foreign Minister’s move to refocus on Beijing threat has been praised by her supporters
While prime minister, David Cameron used a 2015 state visit to London by Chinese President Xi Jinping to usher in a ‘golden era’ in relations between the two countries.
Conor Burns, a minister in the Northern Ireland office and a supporter of Mrs Truss, said reclassifying China as a ‘threat’ was ‘the right thing to say’.
“I think it’s characteristic of Liz that she speaks the way she thinks,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour last night.
‘That was always my experience of her in the International Trade Department.
She was not one to rush to sign trade deals or proclaim the ‘golden age’ of relations with China while there.
“She was very stubborn and stubborn.”
But while Lord Ricketts agreed that Beijing poses “the real threat to the next generation,” he warned that a more “nuanced” approach was needed.
The crossbench colleague, who was David Cameron’s national security adviser in Downing Street, said: “China is the real threat to the next generation. Russia is the short-term immediate crisis. But it is right to focus on China.
“Somehow we have to manage to be very vigilant on security, very strict on human rights, but also maintain the ability to trade with what is after all one of the largest and most powerful markets in the world.” .
‘So it’s a complicated mix that we have to put together. I’m not sure if labeling it as a threat is the most nuanced way to do it.
‘But she [Ms Truss] It is right that we focus on China as a major problem.’
While prime minister, Cameron used a 2015 state visit to London by Chinese President Xi Jinping to usher in a “golden era” in relations between the two countries.
