British Minister of State for Trade Policy Greg Hands yesterday wrapped up a two-day virtual visit to Taiwan, during which he presided over the two nations’ 23rd annual trade dialogue and the signing of cooperation agreements in education and semiconductor technology.
What was originally meant to be an in-person visit migrated online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, although Hands said he “looks forward to being in Taiwan again in the near future.”
The main purpose of the visit was yesterday’s formal dialogue, which Hands presided over with Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Chen Chern-chyi (陳正祺).
Photo courtesy of the British Office in Taipei
The talks aimed to improve bilateral trade and investment ties by focusing on market access for the pharmaceutical, offshore wind, financial service, agriculture and whiskey industries, the British Office Taipei said.
In many fields, such as offshore wind power and financial services, Taiwan provides enormous opportunities for British firms to provide products, services and expertise, Hands said.
The two sides made progress in opening market access for British mutton, and removing trade obstacles for the pharmaceutical and financial service industries, the office said.
Last year, trade between Taiwan and the UK was worth ￡7.1 billion (US$9.3 billion), an increase of nearly 30 percent from three years earlier, the office said.
Taiwan invested ￡64.2 million in the UK last year to become the nation’s most popular investment destination in Europe, it said.
On Wednesday, Hands witnessed the signing of a Letter of Intent on cooperation over English-language education, saying that he was pleased the UK would be offering assistance to Taiwan as it aims to become a bilingual country by 2030.
“Two of my great passions are Taiwan and bilingualism,” Hands wrote on Twitter. “Combining the two is even better!”
Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) told the dialogue that education links between Taiwan and England have been growing rapidly, and the two sides have signed 209 academic exchange agreements.
Earlier on Wednesday, Hands announced the start of bilateral cooperation on compound semiconductor technology development.
At the UK-Taiwan International Showcase for Compound Semiconductor Technology conference held by the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Hands exchanged views with representatives from nine Taiwanese and nine British businesses, as well as 200 potential investors.
He also oversaw the signing of an MOU on technology cooperation between the ITRI and the UK’s Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult.
Hands also took virtual tours of Taroko Gorge, Alishan (阿里山) and Taipei, writing on Twitter afterward that the highlight was a virtual ride on the Alishan Mountain Railway.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday announced that it is to negotiate with Taiwanese universities to offer scholarships to 100 British students to learn Mandarin in Taiwan.
It made the announcement after Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Harry Tseng (曾厚仁) held a videoconference with Hands, who welcomed the plan and said that the UK would be happy to help Taiwan promote bilingual programs.
Additional reporting by Lin Chia-nan
This story has been amended since it was first published.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS