Overnight, Liz Truss has used a speech in Taiwan to launch a challenge to Sunak’s China policy, which she implied would serve to “appease and accommodate” the Chinese threat. Truss withstood the ire of the Chinese Communist Party, who had warned she would inflict “mortal wounds to China-UK relations”, to press ahead with her speech, in which she called on Sunak to follow through with his prior pledge to close down Confucius institutes. Reliving the greatest hits from last Summer’s Tory leadership contest, she also challenged his decision not to designate China a “threat”:

“The only choice we have is do we appease and accommodate that strategy or do we take action now to prevent conflict. Last summer, the new British Prime Minister described China as the biggest long-term threat in Britain and he said that the Confucius Institutes should be closed. He was right and we need to see those policies enacted urgently. The UK’s Integrated Review needs to be amended to make it absolutely clear that China is a threat. Confucius Institutes in the UK should be closed down immediately.”

Truss then blamed “treasuries and finance ministers” for wanting to “turn a blind eye to China”. Who could she be referring to…

Liz went further, she warned of an “ideological struggle”, and argued that greater economic integration could guide the West’s response to China. She called for the creation of an “economic NATO”, and urged the government to block China’s accession to the CPTPP. Iain Duncan Smith will be proud.

Co-conspirators can watch the speech in full here.