Minister of Digital Affairs Audrey Tang (唐鳳) is to make a rare high-level ministerial trip to the UK this week, when she is expected to visit government departments and meet a company specializing in low Earth orbit satellites, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday.
Taiwan views the UK as an important democratic partner despite the lack of formal ties, noting its concern over stepped-up Chinese military activities near the island and its support for Taiwan’s participation in global bodies such as the WHO.
Tang is to attend London Tech Week and is expected to visit the British Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and the Department for Business and Trade, the ministry said.
Photo: CNA
Tang would also visit OneWeb, which specializes in low Earth orbit satellites, and hopes to bolster Taiwan’s communications resilience plans, the ministry said.
The government has been looking at plans to preserve communications in the even of a Chinese invasion, including satellites in medium and low Earth orbit for Internet services, similar to Ukraine’s use of Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite broadband service.
Tang hopes to use her UK trip to deepen cooperation on government information security, investment and overall Taiwan-UK relations, the ministry said.
Separately, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) is expected to travel to Europe this week, where he would attend a security forum in Prague, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
At the invitation of Czech-based think tank the European Values Center for Security Policy (EVC), Wu is to give a speech titled “One Theater, One World and One Vision,” which would focus on both countries’ shared democratic values and human rights as well as their close partnership during the one-day summit, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
It did not provide any other details on Wu’s upcoming visit, including whether he would meet with Czech President Petr Pavel, who is scheduled to open the summit.
Wu previously visited the Czech Republic in October 2021 as part of a trip that also took him to Slovakia.
According to the EVC Web site, this year’s summit would be its ninth edition focused on security policy.
The previous European Values Summit was held in November last year.
In other developments, the air force scrambled jets yesterday after detecting 10 Chinese warplanes crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait.
This is the second time in less than a week that renewed Chinese military activity has been reported, after 37 Chinese military aircraft on Thursday flew into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, some of which then flew into the Western Pacific.
In a short statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that as of 2pm yesterday, it had detected 24 Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force planes, including J-10, J-11, J-16 and Su-30 fighters, as well as H-6 bombers.
It did not specify where the aircraft flew, but said 10 had crossed the median line, which separates the two countries and had previously served as an unofficial barrier.
China said that it does not recognize the line and has been routinely crossing it since last year.
Four Chinese naval ships were also engaged in “joint combat readiness patrols,” the defense ministry added, without giving details.
Additional reporting by CNA
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