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Foreign Minister Lin confers Friendship Medal of Diplomacy on British Office Taipei Representative Dennis

  • Date:2025-01-27
  • Data Source:Department of European Affairs

No. 029 
January 27, 2025

Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung on January 24 conferred the Friendship Medal of Diplomacy on outgoing British Office Taipei Representative John Dennis in recognition of his efforts over the past five years to promote bilateral exchange and cooperation in all areas.

Minister Lin thanked Representative Dennis for raising British attention on the Taiwan Strait and Indo-Pacific during his tenure. Minister Lin expressed pleasure that the G7 had begun stressing the importance of cross-strait peace and stability as an indispensable element to global security and prosperity since United Kingdom’s G7 presidency in 2021. He also noted that Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Indo-Pacific at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Catherine West in November 2024 for the first time publicly expressed the UK government’s opposition to China’s misrepresentation of UN General Assembly Resolution 2758. 

Furthermore, Minister Lin stated that Representative Dennis had initiated regular bilateral dialogue mechanisms on a wide range of issues and had facilitated the signing of bilateral memorandums of understanding on the exchange of driving licenses and organics equivalence, as well as the Enhanced Trade Partnership (ETP) arrangement, thereby further deepening people-to-people, agricultural, economic, and trade exchanges between the two countries. Minister Lin added that during Representative Dennis’s tenure the United Kingdom had actively participated in and co-hosted activities under the Global Cooperation and Training Framework, helping to consolidate partnerships based on democratic values.  

Representative Dennis said that considerable progress had been made in Taiwan-UK ties in recent years and that bilateral trade had continued to grow. He stated that he had been honored to witness the flourishing collaboration between the two countries, as well as Taiwan’s achievements in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, advancing supply chain resilience, and responding to climate change. He also expressed hope that Taiwan and the United Kingdom would soon conclude negotiations and sign subagreements on key pillars of the ETP, including investment, digital trade, and energy and net-zero emissions.

Meanwhile, Representative Dennis said that the United Kingdom would do its utmost to support Taiwan’s international participation so that the two countries could jointly contribute to global initiatives on health, ICT resilience, and sustainable development. He concluded his remarks by stressing that peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait were vital to global prosperity and that the United Kingdom and the other G7 members would continue to pay close attention to Taiwan Strait developments. 

Since taking office in December 2020, Representative Dennis has actively sharpened the United Kingdom’s focus on Taiwan Strait and Indo-Pacific affairs. He has also promoted bilateral exchange and collaboration in such areas as the economy, trade, investment, science and technology, and talent cultivation. His outstanding contributions have further enhanced the mutually beneficial and substantive partnership between Taiwan and the United Kingdom. (E)