Ex-UK Prime Minister Truss Arrives In Taiwan - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th May, 2023) Former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday night for a five-day working visit, the Taiwanese Central news Agency (CNA) reported on Tuesday.

Truss arrived at Taoyuan International Airport around 6:30 p.m. (10:30 GMT) and was welcomed by Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, the broadcaster reports. Truss has become the first former leader of the United Kingdom to visit the country in 27 years, the broadcaster reported.

The former prime minister said that she had been planning to visit Taiwan for some time but had been "unable" to do so due to her post in the government. She vowed to work with Taipei and the people of Taiwan "to see this thriving democracy in action and do all I can to make sure we are preparing freedom and democracy for the future," as quoted by CNA. Truss also called Taiwan the "haven of free enterprise (and) free speech" and said she was visiting to be at the "frontier of freedom" at what was an "absolutely vital time for the world," the report said.

On Wednesday morning, the British politician will give a speech in Taipei dubbed "Taiwan: On the Frontline of Freedom and Democracy" and organized by the government-funded Prospect Foundation, the broadcaster reported.

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.