MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th May, 2023) The Chinese Embassy in London on Tuesday opposed the visit of former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss to Taiwan and called it a "political show."
"British politician Liz Truss's recent visit to Taiwan is a dangerous political show which will do nothing but harm to the UK. This provocative move has caused strong indignation among the Chinese people and will be firmly rejected by people with conscience from all walks of life," the embassy said on the website.
The embassy added that "the greatest threat to peace across the Taiwan Strait now is 'Taiwan independence' activities and foreign forces' connivance at and support for them."
"By playing the 'Taiwan card' and engaging in political shows, Truss and the like are colluding with the 'Taiwan independence' secessionist forces to provoke confrontation and escalate tensions across the Taiwan Strait. What they did has fully revealed their sinister intentions," the statement read.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Taiwanese Central news Agency reported that Truss arrived at Taoyuan International Airport and was welcomed by Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu. On Wednesday morning, she is expected to give a speech in Taipei dubbed "Taiwan: On the Frontline of Freedom and Democracy."
Truss announced her visit last week.
Last week, the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the UK parliament's lower house, harshly criticized Truss's decision to visit Taiwan and called the trip "perfomative" and "the worst kind" of diplomacy for Instagram (banned in Russia over extremism), warning that it might cause a serious escalation in the region, as happened after the visit of then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in August 2022, as quoted by The Guardian.
Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949. Beijing views the island as its province, while Taiwan � a territory with its own elected government � maintains that it is an autonomous country but stops short of declaring independence. Beijing opposes any official contacts of foreign states with Taipei and considers Chinese sovereignty over the island indisputable.
