Special Speech of the Former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss MP. Wednesday, 17 May, 2023

 

 

Special Speech of the Former UK Prime Minister Liz Truss MP

Chairman Chen, President Lai. It's fantastic to be here today in Taiwan at the Prospect Foundation, which has done so much to stand up for freedom, democracy and security here in the Pacific and also in Taiwan. I've always wanted to come to Taiwan. But as a government minister, I was heavily restricted. And maybe we can all blame that on President Nixon, I don't know; but it's great to be here. Because this place really is a beacon of freedom, of democracy, of free enterprise, of a free society. But it is also on the frontier of freedom in what is now a very serious struggle between democracies and authoritarian regimes around the world. You here in Taiwan know what the threat is. And you know what the alternative is. It’s tyranny instead of freedom. It’s control, not choice. It’s arbitrary decisions made, rather than proper justice. And the reason you know what that threat is, is only 80 miles away there is a totalitarian regime where that is a reality. And the threat that it poses is not going away. In fact, that threat is increasing. Recently President Xi has stepped up the threats. He’s made statements about so-called reunification. He’s been sending increased numbers of warplanes on sorties into Taiwan's air defence zone. And the Chinese Communist Party are making it very clear that they don't want to see Taiwan exist in its current form. And that's because you are a direct challenge to everything the Chinese Communist Party stands for. People here in Taiwan are better off than they are in mainland China. They’re freer than they are in mainland China. And they're happier than they are in mainland China. In fact, according to the World Happiness Index, they’re a full 37 places higher in terms of happiness than mainland China. The reason I've come here this week is I am a huge admirer of Taiwan and the Taiwanese people. I want to do all I can to help ensure your continued success. I want to increase awareness of the position that you find yourselves in. And I'm also here because I believe that this is the most consequential place in the world for what is the most consequential struggle of our time. If you look around us here in Taiwan you can see this island democracy is thriving. Under the brave leadership of President Tsai and the rule of law, we see state-of-the-art buildings, we see new industries emerging, we see modern technology and innovation. We see exports from Taiwan going around the world, whether it is semi-conductors or bubble tea. You are having a huge impact right across the globe and you're powering the modern economy. 90% of the world's most advanced microchips - 60% of mobiles, laptops and computers - all have content produced here in Taiwan. And the shipping routes that surround Taiwan are absolutely vital for global commerce. And if you look at the performance of the Taiwanese economy - 3.2% growth on average every year since 2013. Well, I can tell you many countries in the West have a lot to learn from Taiwan. Where we in our economies have seen an increase in regulation and an increase in the size of government, in Taiwan what we see is we see free enterprise powering a very successful economy. You show us all the potential that free democracies have and you also show the importance of freedom and self-determination in delivering and being a successful nation. And we can see what happens when that freedom is taken away. Because we saw that when tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square in 1989. We’ve seen it in Hong Kong when liberties have been eroded with the imposition of the National Security Law. And in Xinjiang, we have seen appalling targeting of Uyghurs with reports of forced sterilisation, forced labour and the arbitrary detention of over a million people. The human cost is huge and it is terrible. We cannot allow those attacks on freedom to happen here. And I know that if freedom in Taiwan was threatened, that the people of Taiwan would stand up and they would fight. But you also need allies across the free world who are going to back you up. I am one of those allies and I know that you have many, many friends right across the free world. I believe that the biggest danger for the future of Taiwan is fatalism. Not on your part, but a fatalism in the free world that somehow a Chinese takeover of Taiwan is inevitable. Some suspect that President Xi is waiting to subdue the enemy without fighting, as the military general Sun Tzu once put it. It is vital that such a notion should not be aided and abetted by any of us living in free democracies. And I believe it's completely irresponsible for European nations to wash their hands of Taiwan on the grounds that it's a long way away or it's not a core part of our concerns. I don't think they could be more wrong. It is a core interest to the people of Europe. A blockade or an invasion of Taiwan would undermine freedom and democracy in Europe, just as a Russian invasion of Ukraine, a successful domination of Ukraine, would undermine freedom and democracy in the Pacific. You only need to look at recent statements by a European Chinese diplomat repudiating the independent existence of the Baltic states to see that these two theatres are inextricably linked. I'm concerned that Ukraine should not be forced into some kind of unfair settlement by China. And I don't believe we should be giving China leverage over European security. In fact, we should be fast-tracking Ukraine's entry to NATO and providing Ukraine with all the weapons they need to make sure that Russia is pushed out of their country. And I'm also concerned that any compact might make it harder for us to defend Taiwan. All free nations must commit themselves to a free Taiwan and be prepared to back it up with concrete measures. And I'm going to talk later in my speech about what those measures should be. Ladies and gentlemen, the future of Taiwan isn't just important for the people on this island and in this room. It's important for the future of the world. Because where we are today in Taipei is on the front line of the global battle for freedom. The Chinese Communist Party is engaged in an ideological struggle with the free world and they have been very open and clear about that. They see our way of life, our way of operating, as a threat. And they’re openly in league with some of the worst regimes in the world, whether it's Putin's Russia, Iran or North Korea. This is a battle of ideas as much as it is an attempt to gain power on the global stage. Let's remember that China is a totalitarian regime that actively describes the US and its allies as an empire that they want to see the end of. China is now the world's largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity and what it wants to do is use this position to gain dominance. Now, there are many in the West who say we don't want another Cold War. But we have to be clear that this is not a choice that we are in a position to make. Because China has already embarked on a self-reliance drive, whether we want to decouple from the economy or not. China is growing its navy at an alarming rate. It is undertaking the biggest military build-up in peacetime history. They’ve already formed alliances with other nations that want to see the free world in decline. They have already made their choice about their strategy. 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. Instead, the service could be provided by organisations with the support of Hong Kong nationals and Taiwanese nationals who’ve come to the United Kingdom freely. We also need to make sure that we rule out the resumption of the economic and financial dialogue and the Joint Economic and Trade Commission. Because we cannot have more integration with the Chinese economy. Recently, there have been too many mixed messages from the free world. We need to end that ambiguity. This is because there are still too many in the West who are trying to cling on to the idea that we can somehow cooperate with China on issues like climate change as if there's nothing wrong. As if there are bigger issues than Chinese global dominance or the future of freedom and democracy. But without freedom and democracy, there is nothing else. We know what happens to the environment or to world health under totalitarian regimes that don't tell the truth. You can't believe a word they say. Look at what's happening in terms of carbon production. New coal fire power stations are being fired up as we speak. And in China, local governments approved more coal power in the first three months of 2023 than they did in the whole of 2021. China did not keep its promises on Hong Kong and crucial liberties have been eroded. Chinese officials speak of the Sino-British Declaration of 1984 as a meaningless historical document, despite it being a legally-binding declaration which is registered at the United Nations. And during the COVID pandemic, they refused to reveal what was going on within their shores, exacerbating the problem for the whole world. But despite the evidence, some in the West continue to turn a blind eye for one simple reason. And that reason is economics. They’re determined to try and cling on to the failed globalist model that’s driven what people consider to be easy growth in Western societies. Until the recent inflation crisis, we had relatively low prices and regular reductions in prices often driven by cheap imports from China. We also saw significant investment into our economies. Of course, it hasn't been easy for industrial parts of Britain producing goods like steel or ceramics that have found themselves undercut by goods with state subsidies or by intellectual property theft. But what I saw when I was in government is how the Treasury were very reluctant to take a tough line on China - wanting instead to have economic financial dialogues, wanting to have trade talks. And Britain is not unique in that respect. Treasuries and finance ministries across the West are keen to engage with China because they're driven by business interests who don't want to give up lucrative Chinese investments or exports to China. And what we've also seen is self-censorship by companies who are worried about pushback from Beijing, including in particular parts of the film industry. But in the free world we have to face the fact that that economic model isn't working anymore. China is becoming more self-reliant and Western economies are struggling with the balance we've got. We've got to do things differently. And in doing things differently, I think we should listen to the people who are in the know. And the people in the know are people here in Taiwan or people in Eastern Europe, who are forced to live next door to an authoritarian neighbour. They understand how great the threat we're facing is. I’m not surprised that it's our brave Lithuanian friends who are prepared to withstand China's attempts to undermine their commerce or the fact it was the Polish Prime Minister, who recently spoke out against those in Europe who would seek to appease the Chinese Communist Party. So what do we need to do collectively to deal with this challenge? We need to remember how these regimes are successfully taken on. And they're not successfully taken on by accommodation, appeasement or from adopting a position of weakness. They're taken on through strength. What does that mean? Well, I've talked before about the idea of a network of liberty, of free nations working together. Because let's be honest, we can't rely now on the UN Security Council, which was recently chaired by Putin's Russia. And we can't rely on the World Trade Organisation to make sure fair trade rules are in place. That is why we need to find other alternatives to get things done. What I want to see on the economic side is the development of an economic NATO. Coordination between countries that support freedom and proper free enterprise. During the Cold War, we had the Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls, which was focused on how the free world collectively dealt with the USSR. I believe we need something similar to that. This would be an organisation that had proper ministerial representation and the right policies in place to agree the best approach towards China – the best approach to take on technology exports, the best approach in the event of economic coercion, the best approach on trade and investment. Now there's a very obvious group of countries that could get together to do that and that's a group of countries that have already put sanctions on Russia that I was proud to take a lead on as Foreign Secretary and as Prime Minister. This group includes the G7 and it includes the EU but it could also include South Korea, Australia, and other willing parties. We can also use trade agreements and trade pacts as a stepping stone to uphold freedom. I’m very pleased that the United Kingdom has now joined the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership, the CPTPP, a vital geopolitical as well as a vital economic agreement. Now Taiwan applied to join the CPTPP in September 2021. I would be delighted to see that happen. Not only would it boost UK-Taiwan trade, which already stands at £8.6 billion a year, it would also help further build economic links for this important democracy. I want the UK to champion the fast-tracking of Taiwan's accession in collaboration with key members of the CPTPP. It is also vital that China is blocked from being a member of the CPTPP and I encourage the United Kingdom Government to say this publicly as well as governments in Japan and Canada and our other allies. As well as working together and having an economic NATO, which is vital for taking on the economic coercion and attempts to dominate by China, we also need to work more closely together on defence. We have NATO, we have the Indo-Pacific Quad and there are various other discussion mechanisms but fundamentally we need a more coordinated approach. In particular, to make sure that Taiwan has the defence it needs and is able to defend itself. We cannot pretend that we have meaningful deterrence without hard power. And if we're serious about preventing conflict in the South China Sea we need to get real about military and defence cooperation. That's why I believe initiatives like AUKUS are so important and we've just seen AUKUS announce its plans to deliver a nuclear-powered submarine for Australia. GCAP will enable the UK, Italy and Japan to work together on the next generation of fighter jets. And we also need a coordinated approach on what exports we license to send to Taiwan. I know the US is already providing military aid to Taiwan as well. But in order to do that, we need to understand the situation on the ground. Too much policy is made without talking directly to Taiwan and in particular, we need to make sure that representative offices around the world are able to have those conversations and are able to have the status needed to be able to engage in those discussions. The third thing we need to do, as well as more economic cooperation and more security cooperation, is to reduce dependence on China in all spheres. I’ve already talked about the need to not engage in new economic dialogues or further cooperation with China whilst it takes the aggressive stance that it has been taking. But we need to keep aware of all eventualities. If Beijing keeps its word and escalates aggression towards Taiwan, substantial decoupling will be unavoidable. If we fail to prepare for this, the consequent economic pain will be felt by all of our people across the free world. I know that when we first put sanctions on Russia when I was Foreign Secretary, there was a lot of resistance from organisations in the UK who were deeply embedded already with Russia. We need to be on the lookout for that with respect to China and take action now to make sure we're prepared. The final point I want to make goes back to what I said at the start about the economy and economic growth. Because we're not going to beat China economically by becoming more like China. We need to make sure that free democracies have small governments, lower taxes and less bureaucracy so people want to invest in our countries. And we need to be able to reach out to third countries, many of whom are in the undecided camp, with a strong economic proposition. This is where I think we, in the UK and right around the free world, can learn from thriving economies like Taiwan who are getting that economic model right. Because we're going to have to do significant economic reform at home to make sure we are match fit to take on these authoritarian regimes. Finally, it's been a huge honour to come to Taiwan and be able to talk to you about the future of freedom. I’m clear that we have to do all we can to support free democracies like Taiwan in the face of aggression from a Chinese regime whose record we already know. We in the West have a collective responsibility, not just to do the right thing by Taiwan, but also to hold China to account for its actions. My visit this week is enabling me to communicate directly the solidarity that British people feel for the people of Taiwan. Taiwan really is a shining beacon in the Pacific. It’s an enduring rebuke to totalitarianism. It’s an example of the power of free enterprise and it shows the importance of a free society for human happiness. We in the United Kingdom and right across the world, need to do all we can to support you over the coming years. Your future is our future. Thank you.

陳會長，賴會長。 很高興今天能來到台灣的展望基金會，該基金會為捍衛太平洋地區和台灣的自由、民主和安全做出了巨大貢獻。

我一直想來台灣。 但作為政府部長，我受到了嚴格的限制。 也許我們都可以把這歸咎於尼克松總統，我不知道； 但很高興來到這裡。 因為這個地方確實是自由、民主、自由企業和自由社會的燈塔。 但它也處於自由的前沿，現在世界各地的民主國家和獨裁政權之間正在展開一場非常激烈的鬥爭。

在台灣的你們知道威脅是什麼。 你知道替代方案是什麼。 這是暴政而不是自由。 是控制，不是選擇。 這是任意做出的決定，而不是適當的正義。 你之所以知道這種威脅是什麼，是因為在 80 英里之外有一個極權主義政權，那裡是現實。

它構成的威脅不會消失。 事實上，這種威脅正在增加。 最近習主席加強了威脅。 他發表了關於所謂的統一的聲明。 他一直在派遣越來越多的戰機進入台灣防空區。 中國共產黨明確表示，他們不想看到台灣以目前的形式存在。

那是因為你是對中國共產黨所代表的一切的直接挑戰。 台灣人比中國大陸人過得更好。 他們比在中國大陸更自由。 而且他們比在中國大陸更幸福。 事實上，根據世界幸福指數，他們的幸福感比中國大陸高出整整 37 個名次。

我本週來到這裡的原因是我非常崇拜台灣和台灣人民。 我想盡我所能幫助確保您繼續取得成功。 我想提高對你們所處位置的認識。我來這裡也是因為我相信這是世界上最重要的地方，因為我們這個時代最重要的鬥爭。

如果你環顧台灣周圍，你會發現這個島嶼民主正在蓬勃發展。 在蔡總統的勇敢領導和法治下，我們看到了最先進的建築，我們看到了新興產業的出現，我們看到了現代科技和創新。 我們看到台灣出口到世界各地，無論是半導體還是珍珠奶茶。 您在全球範圍內產生巨大影響，並為現代經濟提供動力。 世界上 90% 的最先進的微芯片 - 60% 的手機、筆記本電腦和電腦 - 都在台灣生產。

環繞台灣的航線對於全球商業來說絕對至關重要。 如果你看看台灣經濟的表現——自 2013 年以來平均每年增長 3.2%。好吧，我可以告訴你，許多西方國家可以向台灣學習很多東西。 在我們的經濟體中，我們看到監管的加強和政府規模的擴大，而在台灣，我們看到的是自由企業為非常成功的經濟提供動力。

你向我們展示了自由民主國家的所有潛力，你也展示了自由和自決對於建設和成為一個成功國家的重要性。

我們可以看到當這種自由被剝奪時會發生什麼。 因為我們在 1989 年坦克開進天安門廣場時就看到了這一點。我們在香港看到過，隨著國家安全法的實施，自由遭到侵蝕。 在新疆，我們看到了以維吾爾人為目標的駭人聽聞的報導，包括強迫絕育、強迫勞動和任意拘留超過 100 萬人。 人力成本是巨大的，是可怕的。

我們不能允許這些對自由的攻擊在這裡發生。 我知道，如果台灣的自由受到威脅，台灣人民會挺身而出抗爭。 但你也需要自由世界的盟友來支持你。 我是這些盟友之一，我知道你們在整個自由世界有很多很多朋友。

我相信台灣未來最大的危險是宿命論。 不是你，而是自由世界的宿命論，認為中國人接管台灣是不可避免的。 有人懷疑習主席是在等待不戰而屈服，正如軍事將領孫子曾經說過的那樣。

至關重要的是，我們任何生活在自由民主國家的人都不應該幫助和慫恿這樣的想法。 我認為，歐洲國家以距離太遠或不是我們關注的核心部分為由，在台灣問題上撒手不管是完全不負責任的。 我認為他們不會錯得更離譜。 這是歐洲人民的核心利益。 封鎖或入侵台灣會破壞歐洲的自由和民主，就像俄羅斯入侵烏克蘭，成功統治烏克蘭一樣，會破壞歐洲的自由和民主。太平洋地區的自由和民主。

只要看看最近一位歐洲中國外交官否認波羅的海國家獨立存在的聲明，就可以看出這兩個戰場有著千絲萬縷的聯繫。 我擔心烏克蘭不應該被中國強迫進入某種不公平的解決方案。 而且我認為我們不應該讓中國在歐洲安全問題上發揮影響力。 事實上，我們應該加快烏克蘭加入北約的進程，並向烏克蘭提供他們需要的所有武器，以確保將俄羅斯趕出他們的國家。 我還擔心任何契約都可能使我們更難保衛台灣。 所有自由國家都必須致力於一個自由的台灣，並準備以具體措施支持它。 我將在稍後的演講中討論這些措施應該是什麼。

女士們，先生們，台灣的未來不僅僅對這個島上和這個房間裡的人很重要。 這對世界的未來很重要。 因為我們今天在台北所處的位置是全球爭取自由的前線。 中國共產黨正在與自由世界進行意識形態鬥爭，他們對此非常公開和明確。 他們將我們的生活方式、工作方式視為威脅。 他們公開與世界上一些最糟糕的政權勾結，無論是普京的俄羅斯、伊朗還是朝鮮。 這是一場思想之戰，也是一場在全球舞台上獲得權力的嘗試。 讓我們記住，中國是一個極權主義政權，它積極地將美國及其盟友描述為一個他們希望看到其終結的帝國。

按購買力平價計算，中國現在是世界上最大的經濟體，它想做的就是利用這個地位獲得主導地位。 現在，西方有很多人說我們不想再發生一次冷戰。 但我們必須清楚，這不是我們能夠做出的選擇。 因為中國已經走上了自力更生的道路，不管我們要不要和經濟脫鉤。 中國正在以驚人的速度發展其海軍。 它正在進行和平時期歷史上最大規模的軍事集結。 他們已經與其他希望看到自由世界衰落的國家結成聯盟。 他們已經對自己的策略做出了選擇。

我們唯一的選擇是安撫和適應該策略，或者我們現在就採取行動防止衝突。 去年夏天，英國新任首相將中國描述為英國最大的長期威脅，並表示應該關閉孔子學院。 他是對的，我們需要緊急制定這些政策。 英國的綜合審查需要修改，以明確表明中國是一個威脅。 英國的孔子學院應該立即關閉。 相反，該服務可以由自由來英國的香港國民和台灣國民支持的組織提供。

我們還需要確保排除重啟經濟財金對話和經貿聯委會的可能性。 因為我們無法與中國經濟有更多的融合。 最近，來自自由世界的混合信息太多了。 我們需要結束這種歧義。 這是因為在西方仍有太多人試圖堅持我們可以在氣候變化等問題上以某種方式與中國合作的想法，好像沒有什麼不對。 好像還有比中國的全球主導地位或自由民主的未來更大的問題。

但是沒有自由和民主，就沒有別的了。 我們知道在不說實話的極權主義政權下環境或世界健康會發生什麼。 你不能相信他們說的一個字。 看看在碳生產方面發生了什麼。 就在我們說話的時候，新的燃煤發電站正在啟動。 而在中國，地方政府在 2023 年前三個月批准的煤電數量超過了 2021 年全年的批准數量。

中國沒有信守對香港的承諾，重要的自由遭到侵蝕。 中國官員稱 1984 年的《中英宣言》是一份毫無意義的歷史文件，儘管它是一份在聯合國登記的具有法律約束力的聲明。 在 COVID 大流行期間，他們拒絕透露他們境內發生的事情，加劇了整個世界的問題。

但是，儘管證據確鑿，但出於一個簡單的原因，西方的一些人繼續視而不見。 這個原因是經濟學。 他們決心嘗試並堅持失敗的全球主義模式，這種模式推動了人們認為在西方社會很容易實現的增長。 在最近的通脹危機之前，我們的價格相對較低，而且價格經常下降，通常是由來自中國的廉價進口商品推動的。 我們還看到對我們經濟的大量投資。 當然，工業零件並不容易戰鬥機。 我們還需要一個協調一致的方法來確定我們許可向台灣出口的產品。 我知道美國也已經在向台灣提供軍事援助。 但為了做到這一點，我們需要了解實地情況。 太多的政策是在沒有直接與台灣對話的情況下制定的，特別是，我們需要確保世界各地的代表處能夠進行這些對話，並能夠擁有參與這些討論所需的地位。

第三，我們需要做的，以及更多的經濟合作和安全合作，就是在各個領域減少對中國的依賴。 我已經談到了在中國採取其一直採取的咄咄逼人的立場時，不要與中國進行新的經濟對話或進一步合作的必要性。 但我們需要對所有可能發生的情況保持警惕。 如果北京信守承諾，升級對台灣的侵略，實質性脫鉤將不可避免。 如果我們不能為此做好準備，那麼自由世界的所有人都將感受到隨之而來的經濟痛苦。 我知道，當我擔任外交大臣時，我們首次對俄羅斯實施制裁時，英國的組織曾多次反對，這些組織已經深深紮根於俄羅斯。 我們需要留意與中國有關的情況，並立即採取行動以確保我們做好準備。

我想說的最後一點可以追溯到我一開始所說的關於經濟和經濟增長的內容。 因為我們不會通過變得更像中國來在經濟上打敗中國。 我們需要確保自由民主國家擁有小型政府、較低的稅收和較少的官僚作風，以便人們願意在我們的國家投資。 我們需要能夠接觸到第三國，其中許多國家處於未定陣營，具有強大的經濟主張。 這就是我認為我們英國和整個自由世界可以向台灣等繁榮經濟體學習的地方，他們正在正確地運用經濟模式。 因為我們將不得不在國內進行重大的經濟改革，以確保我們能夠與這些獨裁政權相抗衡。

最後，非常榮幸能夠來到台灣並與您談論自由的未來。 我很清楚，我們必須盡我們所能來支持像台灣這樣的自由民主國家，以應對我們已經知道其記錄的中國政權的侵略。 我們西方人負有集體責任，不僅要讓台灣做正確的事，還要讓中國對其行為負責。

我本週的訪問使我能夠直接傳達英國人民對台灣人民的聲援。 台灣真是太平洋上的一盞明燈。 這是對極權主義的持久譴責。 這是自由企業力量的一個例子，它表明了自由社會對人類幸福的重要性。 我們在英國和世界各地，需要在未來幾年竭盡全力支持你們。 你的未來就是我們的未來。 謝謝。