Learn lessons from Ukraine and apply them to Taiwan, says Britain

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss attends a news conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (not seen) in Ankara, Turkey, June 23, 2022. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

LONDON, June 30 (Reuters) – The West must learn from its mistakes in failing to deter the Russian invasion of Ukraine and apply those lessons to “protect peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait”, it said. British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Thursday, as Beijing protested.

Tensions between Taiwan and China, which claims the democratically-ruled island as its own territory, have risen in recent years as China steps up military activity near Taiwan to pressure it into accepting Chinese rule.

Truss said the West, and especially countries in the Indo-Pacific region, needed to make sure Taiwan was defended.

“We have to learn the lessons from Ukraine, which is that we could have made Ukraine have the defensive capability earlier,” Truss told LBC radio.

“And that would have done more to deter (Russian President Vladimir) Putin from invading, the so-called deterrence by denial, and that’s a similar approach to the approach we need to take for other sovereign nations, including including Taiwan.”

In Beijing, the Foreign Office said China had lodged a formal complaint with Britain over Truss’s remarks on Taiwan.

“The lack of common sense and the arrogance of his remarks are surprising,” ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said in a regular briefing on Thursday. “We hope she does not make such irresponsible remarks in the future.”

At a NATO meeting in Spain the previous day, Truss had told a panel discussion that China was “extending its influence through economic coercion and building a capable military”.

She added: “There is a real risk that they will pull the wrong idea, resulting in a catastrophic miscalculation like the invasion of Taiwan.”

Asked to comment on Truss’s remarks on Taiwan on Wednesday, Zhao reiterated China’s position that Taiwan is part of China, its internal affairs and said no outside forces have the right to interfere.

On Thursday, Truss avoided questioning whether she was suggesting Britain should arm Taiwan, saying only: “We must also ensure that together the free world ensures that Taiwan has the defense capability it has. need.”

Britain should continue to build trade ties with China, but avoid becoming strategically dependent on it, she added.

“Of course, we must continue to trade with China. But we must be careful not to become strategically dependent on China.”

On Thursday, spokesperson Zhao responded that using ideology and petty circles to artificially separate global supply chains would not succeed.

Britain and at least six countries helped Taiwan in a secret submarine building program, a Reuters investigation revealed last year.

Reporting by Muvija M; written by Kate Holton and Elizabeth Piper; Additional reporting by Martin Quin Pollard in Beijing; Editing by James Davey and Clarence Fernandez

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