The UK voiced support for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait in a policy report published on Monday that mentioned Taiwan for the first time.
The Integrated Review Refresh 2023, which is built on the 2021 Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, is an effort to guide the UK’s national security strategy in a “more contested and volatile world.”
China’s growing aggression in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait is “threatening to create a world defined by danger, disorder and division — and an international order more favorable to authoritarianism,” Monday’s report said.
Photo: AP
China has “pursued rapid and opaque military modernization with huge new investments, militarized disputed islands in the South China Sea and refused to renounce the use of force to achieve its objectives with regard to Taiwan,” it said.
The China policy mapped out in the report reiterated the UK’s long-standing position that “the Taiwan issue should be settled peacefully by people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait through dialogue and not through any unilateral attempts to change the status quo.”
It also condemned Beijing’s coercion against Vilnius by imposing economic sanctions after it opened the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania, the first office in Europe to be called “Taiwanese.”
Photo: AFP
The Chinese Communist Party strengthening its partnership with Russia, and continuing to disregard universal human rights in Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong are also serious causes for concern, it said.
The UK vowed to bolster collective security with core allies and international partners to oppose behaviors that undermine international law, violate human rights or seek to coerce or create dependencies, it said.
In Taipei yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it “highly welcomed and sincerely appreciated” the pro-Taiwan rhetoric in the Integrated Review Refresh report.
The UK shares Taiwan’s values of democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law, the ministry said, adding that the government would continue to “strengthen mutually beneficial and substantive friendly relations with like-minded countries such as the UK, based on the already solid foundation.”
In related news, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday announced that the UK is doubling funding for next year and 2025 to further boost skills and knowledge for government staff on China.
The funding is to support the cross-department “China Capabilities Program,” which aims to provide training on economic and military policy as well as Chinese-language skills, Sunak’s office said in a statement.
The UK launched a pilot program last year based on the 2021 Integrated Review to provide training in Mandarin to 170 civil servants, with 20 going through a language immersion program in Taiwan, it said.
The increased financial support can help “boost knowledge and language skills across government, in the face of the systemic challenge that China poses to the UK’s security, prosperity and values,” British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs James Cleverly said.
ANTI-SHIP CONFIGURATION: The Tuo Chiang-class vessels are to be built for NT$9.7 billion by Lung Teh, a shipyard that previously built four similar corvettes for the navy The Ministry of National Defense on Wednesday awarded Lung Teh Shipbuilding (龍德造船) a NT$9.7 billion Co (US$317.57 million) contract to build five Tuo Chiang-class corvettes with anti-ship capabilities, a defense official familiar with the matter said yesterday. The corvettes would carry vertical launchers for four Hsiung Feng II (HF-2) missiles, as well as eight Hsiung Feng III (HF-3) anti-ship missiles, in contrast to ships configured for anti-air warfare, which carry eight HF-2 and four HF-3 missiles, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The anti-ship corvettes would be armed for improved standoff range against surface combatants and carry the latest
PARTIAL SUPPORT: Morris Chang said he agrees with the US’ goal to slow advances of China’s chip sector, but US policies that might boost chip prices perplex him Washington’s efforts to on-shore semiconductor production might lead to surges in chip prices and supply bottlenecks, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) said yesterday. The 91-year-old industry veteran said he supports parts of Washington’s effort to slow China’s progress on advanced chip manufacturing. China is still six years behind Taiwan in making advanced chips, despite years-long efforts to catch up, Chang told a Commonwealth Magazine forum that he coheadlined with Tufts University assistant professor Chris Miller, an expert on the US-China rivalry’s effects on chip manufacturing. However, Chang said that other parts of the effort, particularly Washington’s on-shoring
NINE TYPES: One of the devices can be carried by a single soldier and can destroy high-value, high-risk vehicles as well as target personnel, an official said Taiwan’s top military research body yesterday unveiled nine domestically developed drones in Taichung, including a loitering munition, or “suicide drone,” similar to the US-made AeroVironment Switchblade 300. The surveillance and attack drones shown to the media by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology included the Albatross medium-range uncrewed aerial vehicle Nos. 1 and 2, and the Teng Yun 2 and Cardinal 2 and 3 indigenous uncrewed combat aerial vehicles. The institute also unveiled a domestically made drone inspired by the AeroVironment Switchblade 300, which Ukrainian forces have employed in the country’s war with Russia. Aeronautical Systems Research Division head Chi Li-pin (齊立平)
‘WRONG DECISION’: Honduras should carefully consider the situation, and not fall into China’s trap and jeopardize the bilateral friendship, the foreign ministry said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said that it had expressed “grave concern” to the government of Honduras after Honduran President Xiomara Castro on Tuesday wrote on Twitter that it would pursue official diplomatic relations with China. In addition to issuing a statement, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Yui (俞大㵢) summoned Honduran Ambassador to Taiwan Harold Burgos to the ministry in Taipei early yesterday to voice the government’s concerns. The meeting lasted about 20 minutes and Burgos did not make any public comments upon arriving at the ministry. Burgos said shortly after noon that he had not yet heard from his country’s