Liz Truss has used her first overseas speech since resigning as Britain’s prime minister to call on the west to safeguard Taiwan’s security and economy in the face of Chinese aggression ‘before it’s too late’. Speaking in Tokyo at a meeting of mainly conservative politicians, Truss said Britain had been naive to court the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, in 2015. She said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine should serve as a warning of what happens when democracies fail to stand up to authoritarian regimes. ‘When it comes to China, a failure to act now could cost us dearly in the long run,’ said Truss, who is Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister, having spent just 45 days in office when she resigned last October
