The leading Conservative Party candidate to become Great Britain's next prime minister intends to classify China as a "threat" to national security if she assumes the post.
British Foreign Minister Liz Truss, if she becomes prime minister, will classify China with Russia, which last year was deemed an "acute threat" to United Kingdom security, The Times of London reported.
"Liz has toughened the UK's stance on Beijing since becoming foreign secretary and would continue to take a hawkish stance as PM, "a Truss campaign source told The Times.
"She's been active in calling out China's economic coercion, working with G7 and other allies to mobilize investment into low and middle-income countries as a counter to China's Belt and Road initiative."
Truss and former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak are competing to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister and Tory leader. The two candidates last month clashed in a televised debate over who would be tougher on China.
"I think it's characteristic of Liz that she speaks as she finds, "Conor Burns, a minister in the Northern Ireland Office, told BBC Radio 4's Westminster Hour. "That was always my experience of her at the Department for International Trade.
"She wasn't one for rushing off to sign trade agreements or declaring 'golden age' of relationships with China while she was there. She was very hard-nosed and hard-headed."
The Times reported that Truss' intention to label Beijing as a "threat" China partly comes as an attempt to clamp down on Treasury efforts to strengthen economic cooperation with Beijing.
It was reported last month that Sunak, while in office, had been close to signing a new economic agreement with China.
Some of China's fiercest critics in the House of Commons – e.g. former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Tom Tugendhat, the chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee – hailed Truss' "threat" comment about the mainland communists.
Last year's integrated review of Britain's security, defense, development and foreign policy declared Russia "the most acute threat to our security," the Daily Mail reported.
China, meanwhile, was described as offering a "systemic challenge" to the UK's security, prosperity and values.
"We will continue to pursue a positive trade and investment relationship with China, while ensuring our national security and values are protected, "the review said, the Daily Mail reported. "We will also cooperate with China in tackling transnational challenges such as climate change."
The Conservative Party is expected to announce results of its leadership vote on Sept. 5.
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