Ex-PMs of UK, Australia, Belgium urge tough action on China

By KWIYEON HA and MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — Former leaders from Australia, Britain and Belgium have called for a tougher international approach to China to reduce the possibility of war over Taiwan and respond to human rights violations. Former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison linked human rights violations in China with security in the Indo-Pacific as he spoke at an Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China conference in Tokyo. He was joined by two other former leaders — Liz Truss from Britain and Guy Verhofstadt from Belgium. The alliance, a group of lawmakers from more than 30 nations concerned about how democratic countries approach Beijing, hopes the event will spur more coordinated diplomacy toward China ahead of the next Group of Seven industrialized nations summit in May.