Chinese Embassy Slams Truss' Visit to Taiwan as 'Political Show'

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - 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," the embassy said on the website. "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 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 media reported Truss arrived at Taoyuan International Airport and was welcomed by Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu. She is expected to give a speech early Wednesday 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, which has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949, is viewed by Beijing as its province, while Taipei — a territory with its own elected government — maintains 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.