British Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss Photo: AFP

Liz Truss, in a bizarre and twisted move to display a confident UK to the world, "will urge Britain to stop the guilt about colonial past," Daily Mail reported on Sunday.  

The question is, has the UK ever been burdened by the sense of guilt for its colonial past, or has the UK been so busy apologizing to any of its former colonies?

The report noted that in her major policy speech she is set to deliver to the Chatham House think tank this week, Truss will say the UK should not be racked with shame about its history and will stress that British diplomats should be "unleashed and empowered" to promote "the best of British business, culture and values of freedom, democracy and human rights around the world." Daily Mail did not name a specific source. Still, the article has been widely re-posted by media outlets and on social media the following day.

Observers from China, a country which fought two Opium Wars against the British aggressors, find Truss' wordings beyond comprehension, as she shows not even a bit of shame for her country's invasive and violent history on other people's lands, but, unbelievably, she shows confidence.

The content left people an impression: Yes, the UK has a past with both glory and crimes, and we should simply leave the dark side of it behind. Maybe that's exactly what Truss wants, to trigger a controversy, to stir up a sensation, to catch more eyeballs, and to "burnish her credentials as the 'new Margaret Thatcher'," as Daily Mail put it. 

Truss seems to have tried hard to become a present-day Thatcher. During her trip in late November to Estonia where she visited British troops, Truss rode in a tank and warned Russia against making a "strategic mistake" if the latter launches an invasion of Ukraine. Many British media outlets said she has recreated one of Thatcher's most iconic photos, in which Thatcher appeared in a British tank in Fallingbostel, West Germany, in 1986. The photo taken in Estonia fueled speculation about Truss' "leadership ambitions," The Times reported on November 30. 

Truss may want to clear the doubts both at home and abroad toward the post-Brexit UK, and she chose to do so by being tough on foreign policy, Cui Hongjian, director of the Department of European Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times. However, being tough needs to be backed by solid national strength.

London is now confronting challenges from both Brexit and the fierce major power games worldwide. However, the UK is on a stable path of decline. Still, it announced a grand goal of "Global Britain," wishing to maintain its major power status and attempting to gain interests in this era of change. That being said, the UK needs to find an approach to unite its people at home and face the world with a new image, Cui noted. 

Truss tosses out her approach - making a revisionist suggestion on how British people should view their colonial history. This does not sound smart, this sounds arrogant. Worse, she unveils the real mentality of not only herself, but many more white British elites. 

"Liz Truss is a fanatic. She was only chosen for her job because of her market appeal to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's 'Brexit branding' which is very populist," Tom Fowdy, a British political and international relations analyst, told the Global Times. 

He noted that the mantra of Brexit is anchored on pro-imperial nostalgia which creates the delusion of Britain still being a globally dominant power. 

"As a part of this mentality, there is a denial of the UK's current place in the world, as well as a lack of remorse for the atrocities of its past while actively crusading against other countries," Fowdy said. 

As a result, when Truss tries to shape her own image as a next Iron Lady, what she has really presented is the UK's predicament - the widening gap between the country's strength and its ambitions, which is exactly the same as Truss' own awkward situation. As Daily Mail said, "Posing in one of our few tanks, Liz Truss is not the same as being an Iron Lady."