The UK has changed the name of its representative office in Taiwan from the British Trade and Cultural Office to the British Office to better reflect its services.
“This is purely a change of title. It is not a change of functions,” UK Representative to Taiwan Chris Wood said yesterday.
The name change took effect on Tuesday, he said, describing it as “a rebranding.”
“We felt that the old name, the British Trade and Cultural Office, did not adequately describe what we do,” Wood said.
He said that people did not really understand what the name meant and often did not recognize the agency as a government office.
“The British Office better reflects the full scope of our work,” which ranges from providing services to British citizens in Taiwan to facilitating cooperation in science and innovation, combating climate change, supporting UK trade with Taiwan and encouraging Taiwanese investment in the UK, Wood said.
The renaming can be seen as a positive development in Taiwan-UK, relations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The two nations are to continue to cooperate in various fields based on a solid foundation, the ministry said in a statement yesterday.
Wood said that the outcome of UK general elections earlier this month is not likely to result “in any change in the UK’s long-standing policy toward Taiwan.”
“We now have a majority Conservative government with many ministers reappointed to their previous positions,” he said.
The UK government’s key priorities remain as before — stimulating the British economy and boosting UK trade and exports, Wood said.
Taiwan and the UK have been forging stronger economic links and deepening cooperation on climate change and technology, he said.
He added that there has been an increase in the frequency of visits by senior British officials and members of parliament to Taiwan.
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
President William Lai (賴清德) today condemned an alleged attempt by two Chinese to snatch a letter of congratulations handed to Taiwan’s taekwondo team after they won silver at the Summer World University Games in Essen, Germany, yesterday. A Chinese man and woman reportedly tried to snatch a congratulatory letter to athletes Hung Jiun-yi (洪俊義), Jung Jiun-jie (鍾俊傑) and Huang Cho-cheng (黃卓乘) from the Ministry of Education, and then argued with media employees. “Why are you taking our things?” the media employees asked. “Does that say Chinese Taipei?” the two Chinese reportedly said. Following the incident, Sports Administration Director-General Cheng Shih-chung (鄭世忠) wrote on