James Cleverly, the Education Secretary, has accused Rishi Sunak of being late to realise the threat posed by China.
Mr Cleverly, who is supporting Liz Truss in the race for No 10, said the Foreign Secretary has been raising concerns about Beijing “for a long time” while Mr Sunak has only started speaking out on the issue “now”.
Speaking to Times Radio, Mr Cleverly said: “Well, look, Liz, who I am supporting, has taken a firm line on China’s influence globally, whether it be through the belt and road initiative which has been I think putting undue pressure on a number of developing countries, she has talked about the network of liberty to make sure that like-minded open, free societies come together to provide a meaningful counterbalance to China’s influence.
“She has been talking about these for a long time so I am very glad that Rishi’s now talking about the issues that Liz has been talking about for quite some time and of course we do need to look at China’s influence, not just on the world stage but here in the UK.”
