former british prime minister Leeds Truss Warned China’s economic and political threat to the West during Wednesday’s visit to Beijing by democratic rivals Taiwan.

Truss is the first former British prime minister to visit the self-governing island republic since Margaret Thatcher in the 1990s China Claim it as your own territory, which you can conquer by force if necessary.

Truss is still a sitting member of the House of Commons, and his list of elected representatives is growing, former us officialChina, the European Union and others have visited Taiwan to show their defiance of Chinese threats and attempts to cut off the island and its high-tech economy from the international community.

“Some people say they don’t want another Cold War. But that’s not a choice we can make. Because China has started to stand on its own, whether we want to decouple from their economy or not,” Truss told a hotel in the Taiwanese capital Taipei. said the Outlook Foundation in a speech.

“China is developing its navy at breakneck speed and is undertaking the largest military buildup in peacetime history,” she said.

“They’ve formed alliances with other nations that want to see the free world decline. They’ve made a choice about their strategy. Our only choice is appeasement and accommodation — or we act to prevent conflict,” Truss said .

Elsewhere, Truss praised her successor Rishi Sunak for describing China as “Britain’s greatest long-term threat” in comments last summer and urged the closure of the Confucius Institute, a Chinese government-run cultural center criticized as Communist Party propaganda channels. Such services can be provided by Taiwanese and Hong Kong nationals who come to the UK voluntarily.

In Beijing, Mao Xiaoguang, spokesman for the cabinet’s Taiwan Affairs Office, accused Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party of “using Taiwanese people’s tax dollars to buy some anti-China politicians who have stepped down and staged a farce seeking foreign aid.” Taiwan becomes independent. “

Ma also reiterated China’s military threat to Taiwan, a day after China’s Defense Ministry condemned U.S. military aid to the island.

“If they continue to challenge and coerce us, we will have to take decisive measures to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Ma told reporters at a biweekly news conference. “No one should underestimate our strong determination, strong will and great capability.”

Voters in the United States and Taiwan will head to the polls next year, seen by some as a critical period of tension between the two sides. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen will be re-elected for up to two terms, and Vice President Lai Ching-teh, who strongly supports Taiwan independence, will run for the Democratic Progressive Party.

Meanwhile, the main opposition KMT (KMT) on Wednesday nominated local politician Hou Yuyi as its candidate for January elections. Hou rose to prominence as a senior police officer but had relatively little experience dealing with international partners in China and Taiwan.

Taiwan will also elect a new legislature, currently controlled by the ruling party.

China’s relations with Britain and most other Western democracies have declined sharply in recent years, largely due to disputes over human rights, trade technology and China’s aggressive moves toward Taiwan and the South China Sea.

Relations between Beijing and London have been particularly tense amid China’s sweeping crackdown on free speech, democracy and other civil liberties in Hong Kong, a former British colony that had promised to retain its freedoms after it was handed over to Chinese rule in 1997.

China said a key previous bilateral agreement on Hong Kong no longer applied and dismissed concerns expressed by Britain as meddling in China’s internal affairs. China is also angry over a joint Australia-US-UK agreement known as AUKUS, which will provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines, partly in response to a rising threat from China.

Truss, who served as prime minister for an unfortunate seven weeks last year, also said China could not be trusted to meet its commitments in areas ranging from trade to environmental protection.

She hailed Taiwan as a “enduring condemnation of totalitarianism”, whose fate is a “core interest” in Europe.

“A blockade or invasion of Taiwan would undermine freedom and democracy in Europe. Just as a Russian victory in Ukraine would undermine freedom and democracy in the Pacific,” Truss said.

“We in the UK and the free world must do all we can to support you,” she said.

Trus’ comments also contrasted sharply with those of French President Emmanuel Macron last month, which raised questions about whether Macron’s views were consistent with those of other European countries on Taiwan’s status.

“As Europeans, the question we need to answer is the following: Is it in our interest to accelerate (the crisis) on Taiwan? No,” Macron was quoted as saying in the interview. “The worst thing is to think that we Europeans have to be followers of this topic and take cues from the US agenda and China’s overreaction.”

Shortly thereafter, Macron denied any change in France’s views on Taiwan, saying “we support the status quo and this policy remains unchanged”.