20.03.2023
The British parliamentary delegation will visit Taiwan and will meet with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Monday (20th). China strongly opposes this and criticizes the delegation for “walking away from Taiwan.” What else did China say? What is the content of the British parliamentary group’s visit to Taiwan?
(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) At the invitation of Taiwan, Bob Stewart, chairman of the “Taiwan British Council Group” of the British Parliament, led a delegation to Taiwan on Sunday (March 19) for a six-day visit. China now condemns the British delegation for “fleeing to Taiwan” in spite of China’s firm opposition.
The Chinese embassy in the UK strongly condemned this on the 19th, criticizing the British MPs for “despite China’s firm opposition and insisted on visiting” Taiwan, saying that the move “blatantly violated the one-China principle, grossly interfered in China’s internal affairs, and sent a message to the “Taiwan independence” separatist forces.” Serious error signal”.
Taiwan-UK Congress Team Visits Taiwan
The Taiwan-UK Congress team will meet with Tsai Ing-wen on the afternoon of the 20th.Kolas Yotaka, spokesman for the Taiwan Presidential Office, said on the evening of the 19th that the visit of the “Taiwan-UK Congress Group” in Taiwan to the 24th follows the British House of Commons in November last year.Foreign Affairs Commission delegation visits TaiwanAfterwards, the British Parliament once again organized a delegation to visit Taiwan. Taiwan looks forward to making efforts to enhance global “democratic resilience” through this exchange.
In addition to Chairman Stewart, the delegation also included five members of the House of Commons across party lines, including Deputy Chairman Rob Butler, Sarah Atherton, Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, and Afzal Khan , Marie Rimmer and others.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on the same day that in addition to meeting Tsai Ing-wen, the delegation will also meet with Premier Chen Jianren and Secretary-General of the National Security Council Gu Lixiong, and will accept a banquet given by President of the Legislative Yuan You Xikun and Foreign Minister Wu Zhaoxie. The group leader of the Taiwan-UK Council will exchange views with Taiwan’s administrative departments such as the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Mainland Affairs Council, representatives of public opinion in the Legislative Yuan and experts on “Taiwan-UK bilateral relations, regional situation, economic resilience and other issues.”
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed out that this trip is Stewart’s second visit to Taiwan, saying that Stewart will “do his best to help Taiwan after taking over as the chairman of the British Council of Taiwan in 2021”; Initiated the motion debate on “Taiwan-UK Friendship and Cooperation”, and wrote to the British Ministry of Defense, Foreign Office and the British Parliament on the situation in the Taiwan Strait and Taiwan-UK relations, expressing “China’s military threat to Taiwan“, calling for support for Taiwan.
The picture shows British MP Keynes and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen meeting at the Taiwan Presidential Palace on December 2 last year.
Taiwan-UK relations heat up
In February last year, Stewart and Alicia Kearns, who is also a member of the British Foreign Affairs Committee of the Conservative Party and the chairman of the China Research Group (China Research Group), launched the “UK-Taiwan friendship” (UK-Taiwan friendship) in the House of Commons. and cooperation) debate, and finally passed the motion without objection, asking the House of Commons to pay attention to the relationship between Britain and Taiwan, and to promote the British government to strengthen bilateral trade and security cooperation.
Keynes once led the Foreign Affairs Committee of the British House of Commons to visit Taiwan at the end of November last year to discuss the economic and trade relations between the UK and Taiwan, the security of the Indo-Pacific region, and exchange views with Taiwan officials and experts on the geopolitical changes in the region. Keynes said that the UK “seeks to cooperate with Taiwan to strengthen democratic resilience, and promote bilateral cooperation in the field of zero carbon emissions and semiconductors, while strengthening the resilience of democratic supply chains.”
The Chinese embassy in the UK accused the British side of visiting Taiwan as “seriously interfering” in China’s internal affairs, and said it would strongly counteract actions that harm China’s interests.
(Taiwan Central News Agency, Reuters, Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Taiwan Presidential Office Spokesperson, Chinese Embassy in the UK, etc.)
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