Shannon Brandao
Shannon's excerpt from the article: "😶 Politico [excerpt]: Former U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss secretly lobbied the British government to 'expedite' the sale of #defense equipment to China, documents released to POLITICO show.
In a private letter dated August 2023, Truss — who casts herself as the most high-profile #China hawk on the Tory backbenches — asked #Business and #Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch to intervene on behalf of a British defense manufacturer hoping to sell #military equipment to China.
U.K. security officials had blocked Richmond Defence Systems — a defense firm based in Truss' Norfolk constituency — from exporting #landmine disposal equipment to the People's Republic of China.
Experts say the equipment could be used by Beijing in an invasion of #Taiwan.
But Truss seemingly had no qualms about making the firm's case in a private message to Badenoch, whom she had appointed to the Cabinet the previous year during her brief spell as U.K. prime minister.
'Dear Kemi,' begins the letter from Truss, dated August 15, 2023. 'I am writing on behalf of my constituent, whose application for a licence to supply goods to China was first submitted 03/01/2023 ... I would be grateful can you [sic] expedite [the] licence.'
Truss' tough-on-China stance has been central to her political brand, both during her time in government — as U.K. foreign secretary and as prime minister — and subsequently as a backbench MP following her dramatic resignation from Downing Street.
In May 2023 — three months before she wrote to Badenoch — Truss even flew to Taiwan to make a speech urging her successor as PM, Rishi Sunak, to classify China as a 'threat' to U.K. national security. She described the self-governing island as being 'on the frontline of the global battle for freedom' against China.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has not ruled out the use of force to fulfil Beijing’s long-standing ambition to reunify the island with the mainland — a process he called 'inevitable' in his New Year’s address. U.S. intelligence assessments indicate Xi has ordered China’s military to be ready as early as 2027.
Earlier in 2023, in her first speech after stepping down as PM, Truss had called for Taiwan to be given more arms to defend itself against the increasing threat of invasion.
But in her letter to Badenoch that summer, Truss warned that blocking a British firm from selling military equipment to China 'would mean the loss of future #sales running into the millions.'
She added that the firm believed that 'if the license is not granted, the Chinese would simply reverse engineer and manufacture the products themselves.'
'Liz always takes up cases of constituents with government departments and follows up to get them the answers they need,' the spokesperson said.
But MPs are not obliged to act on all constituents’ requests — and experts and senior Tory MPs say Truss’ intervention may have threatened both Taiwan and the U.K.’s national interests."
#news #UK