The two candidates battling to be Britain's next prime minister will vie to present themselves as defenders of Scotland's place in the United Kingdom by promising more scrutiny of Scotland's government to undermine a new push for independence.
Liz Truss, the foreign minister, and Rishi Sunak, the former finance minister, who are competing to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson, set out their policies for Scotland before the only election hustings in the country on Tuesday.
Both candidates want more focus on the Scottish government's record on health and education.
Scotland has the highest drug deaths in Europe and two-thirds of the population is either obese or overweight, while a report last year said its education system is the weakest performing in the United Kingdom.
The Scottish National Party, which heads Scotland's semi-autonomous government, wants to hold a second independence referendum next year, which could rip apart the world's fifth-biggest economy.
The bonds holding together the four countries that make up the United Kingdom — England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — have been severely strained over the last six years by Brexit and the government's handling of the pandemic.
READ MORE: UK rejects Scotland's request for second independence vote
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Second independence vote
Liz Truss promised to give parliamentary privilege to members of the Scottish parliament to allow more scrutiny of the government, and said she would push to sign a trade deal with India to end longstanding 150 percent tariffs on Scotch Whisky, the country's biggest single product export.
"I'll make sure that my government does everything to ensure elected representatives hold the devolved administration to account," she said.
"As a nation we are stronger together and the UK needs Scotland as much as Scotland needs the UK."
Voters in Scotland, which has a population of around 5.5 million, rejected independence in 2014. But Scotland's government says Britain's departure from the European Union, which was opposed by a majority of Scots, means the question must be put to a second vote.
Sunak said that if he becomes prime minister, he will order senior Scottish government officials to attend annual British parliament committee hearings.
"For too long the SNP has been able to obscure its failures by picking and choosing the data it publishes - I would change that, ensuring the Scottish government’s record could be held to account," he said.
READ MORE: Scotland leader launches campaign for second independence vote
Source: Reuters
Chinese and Taiwanese warships have played high-seas "cat and mouse", hours before the scheduled end of four days of unprecedented Chinese military exercises launched in reaction to a visit to Taiwan by the US house speaker.
Some 10 warships each from China and Taiwan sailed at close quarters in the Taiwan Strait on Sunday morning, with some Chinese vessels crossing the median line, an unofficial buffer separating the two sides, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.
As Chinese forces "pressed" the line, as they did on Saturday, the Taiwan side stayed close to monitor and, where possible, deny the Chinese the ability to cross.
"The two sides are showing restraint, the person said, describing the manoeuvres as high seas "cat and mouse".
"One side tries to cross, and the other stands in the way and forces them to a more disadvantaged position and eventually return to the other side."
Taiwan said its shore-based anti-ship missiles and its Patriot surface -to-air-missiles were on stand-by.
Taiwan's Premier Su Tseng-chang said that China had "arrogantly" used military actions to disrupt regional peace and stability.
Speaking to reporters in Taipei on Sunday, Su also called on Beijing to not flex its military muscles, and condemned "foreign enemies" he said were attempting to sap the morale of the Taiwanese people through cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns.
Pelosi's visit triggers crisis
The Chinese exercises, centred on six locations around the island, began on Thursday and are scheduled to last until midday on Sunday.
China's military said on Saturday it was conducting sea and air joint exercises north, southwest and east of Taiwan with a focus on testing land-strike and sea-assault capabilities.
Nancy Pelosi's visit last week to the self-ruled island infuriated China, which responded with test launches of ballistic missiles over the island's capital for the first time and the cutting of communication links with the United States.
The United States called the exercises an escalation.
China halted communication through various channels with the United States as part of its response to Pelosi's visit, including between military theatre commands and on climate change.
Taiwan has been self-ruled since 1949, when Mao Zedong's communists took power in Beijing after defeating Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang nationalists in a civil war, prompting their retreat to the island.
China says Taiwan is its province and its relations with the island are an internal matter and it reserves the right to bring the it under its control, by force if necessary.
Source: TRTWorld and agencies
