Liz Truss has been branded ‘demented’ for taking a hardline stance on China in an astonishing outburst by a former Australian prime minister.
Paul Keating, who was a Labor PM in the early 1990s, lashed out at the Foreign Secretary after she used a visit Down Under to hit out at Beijing’s economic bullying and military threat.
Keating, 77, who has previously been seen as an apologist for the communist regime, also lashed out at Boris Johnson’s government in general, branding it ‘disreputable’ in an astonishing tirade in a little-known Australian newspaper.
‘[Her comments] are nothing short of demented. Not simply irrational, demented,’ he wrote in an opinion piece, calling her words ‘nonsense’.
Ms Truss has been in Australia for high level meetings in recent days and said China taking advantage of the Ukraine situation ‘couldn’t be ruled out’.
‘Russia is working more closely with China than it ever has. Aggressors are working in concert and I think it’s incumbent on countries like ours to work together,’ she told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Paul Keating (Labor PM) lashed at the Foreign Minister after she visited Down Under to attack Beijing’s financial bullying and military threat.
In recent days, Ms Truss was in Australia to attend high-level meetings. She stated that China could take advantage of Ukraine’s situation and “could not be excluded”.
Ms Truss with Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne at Admiralty House in Sydney last week, when she attacked China over its economic and defence policies.
While Mr Keating was PM from 1991 to 1996, Australia’s foreign policy toward Asia was reshaped by him. He is now a regular advocate for China.
He ridicules the AUKUS Alliance between Australia and the US as well as Britain’s potential to act in the Asia-Pacific.
The British’s delusions Of Grandeur and Relevance Deprivation’ were again on display this weekend as he thought it might be able to make an impact in China’s growing influence.
“The truth is that Britain doesn’t add up to one row of beans when dealing with East Asia. In 1904, Britain evacuated its major battle fleet from East Asia and then finally took it with the ‘East of Suez” policy of the 1970s. He wrote, “And it has never been returned.”
Ms Truss blasted China over its ‘economic coercion’ of Australia last week, saying Beijing’s bullying was a ‘wake-up call’ to other countries.
China, Australia’s largest trading partner, introduced tariffs on Australia and other trade measures against China. These actions were taken after the bilateral relationship began to deteriorate in 2020.
In Sydney, Ms Truss stated that Australia and the UK were committed to working together and ‘calling China out’ when it blocks imports from Lithuania and imposes “punitive tariffs” on Australian wine and barley.
She said that the situation in Australia, which was a result of economic coercion, was one of the alarming signs about what China was doing. It was also revealing the ways it used its economic power to control other countries.
She said Australia and the UK are ‘facing global challenges with multiple aggressors… We are seeing the alignment of authoritarian regimes around the world.’
Keating was further angered by this and took advantage of the chance to attack British Prime Minister Boris Johnson for his ongoing troubles.
He wrote, “Truss would be a good friend to us all by high-tailing it back to her disreputable, collapsing government and leaving Australia to make its own way through Asia.”
According to him, Ms Truss is “looking longingly for Britain’s forgotten worlds of 19th and 20th century”.