Liz Truss, the former Prime Minister of the UK, is set to make a major comeback on the international stage. Truss will join forces with two other former prime ministers, Scott Morrison of Australia and Guy Verhofstadt of Belgium, as part of an international campaign aimed at putting pressure on China over its human rights record and economic coercion against smaller countries.
The conference, organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, is set to take place in Japan later this month and will bring together politicians from across the globe to coordinate their policies towards Beijing. The cross-party group of politicians is focused on issues such as upholding human rights and promoting trade fairness.
Truss’s participation in the conference is expected to be a major moment for the former prime minister, who has been keeping a low profile since her resignation in October. However, her allies have recently formed the Conservative Growth Group, which aims to push her low-tax agenda. The group includes former ministers Simon Clarke and Ranil Jayawardena, both of whom served in Truss’s cabinet.
Truss’s speech at the conference is expected to focus on the threat to Taiwan, and observers will be watching closely to see if she takes a harder line than her former government, which still hopes to cooperate with China on climate change and trade.
In her speech, Truss is predicted to address the concerns raised by her predecessor and successor, Prime Ministers Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson. In November, Sunak declared that the “golden era” of relations with China was over and that the closer economic ties of the previous decade had been “naive”. Despite this, he stressed that the UK cannot ignore China’s significance in world affairs, as it is a crucial player in global economic stability and issues such as climate change.
Johnson, who served as the Prime Minister before Truss, has also reemerged on the global stage since leaving office. Last month, he visited Kyiv and met with President Volodymyr Zelensky and other Ukrainian ministers.
Truss’s participation in the conference in Japan marks her return to the international stage, and it will be interesting to see how she will be received by her fellow politicians and diplomats. Her views and opinions on China and its human rights record, as well as its economic coercion against smaller countries, will be closely watched and analyzed.
With the threat to Taiwan and the concerns over China’s human rights record and economic practices, the conference in Japan promises to be a major event in the ongoing international debate over China’s role in the world. As one of the key participants, Truss’s role in the conference will be an important moment for the former prime minister and will give a glimpse into her future plans and political ambitions.