February 19, 2025
No. 041
On February 18, Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung hosted a luncheon to welcome a delegation from the British-Taiwanese All-Party Parliamentary Group led by its chair, Sarah Champion MP, who also chairs the House of Commons International Development Committee. In his remarks, Minister Lin thanked the members of the UK parliamentary cross-party group for demonstrating their support for Taiwan through concrete actions.
Minister Lin noted that the Group of Seven had consistently stressed the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as an indispensable element to global security and prosperity since 2021, when the United Kingdom held the G7 rotating presidency. He thanked the UK government for continuing to underline the fact that the interests and security of the Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic were indivisible. Furthermore, Minister Lin expressed gratitude to the House of Commons for passing a motion last November concerning Taiwan’s international status. The motion noted that United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 neither mentioned Taiwan nor addressed Taiwan’s status in the United Nations. Minister Lin said that he looked forward to Taiwan and the United Kingdom signing subarrangements under the framework of the Enhanced Trade Partnership Arrangement on investment, digital trade, and energy and net-zero transition in the near future. He also expressed the hope that the United Kingdom would publicly voice support for Taiwan’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
In her remarks, Ms. Champion noted that the international community was currently facing many challenges as authoritarian regimes continued to create conflict through various means. She said that democracies therefore needed to be more united to jointly defend freedom, human rights, and other core values. With friendship and cooperation between Taiwan and the United Kingdom continuing to deepen, Ms. Champion expressed hoped that the two sides would further strengthen collaboration on issues such as foreign information manipulation interference, critical infrastructure protection, and semiconductor supply chains. (E)