British Minister of State for Security Tom Tugendhat on Wednesday met with Minister of Digital Affairs Audrey Tang (唐鳳) to discuss mutual security interests, Reuters cited people with knowledge of the talks as saying.
The meeting broke with the UK’s conventional foreign policy, the report said.
Britain has no formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Photo: Reuters
Although junior British ministers hold talks with their Taiwanese counterparts, the convention was that senior British ministers do not meet with Taiwanese officials.
One source said that Tugendhat’s meeting with Tang was about mutual security interests.
Tugendhat, who was sanctioned by China two years ago for speaking out about alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang, is not a full Cabinet minister, but attends Cabinet meetings in his role as security minister, which puts him in charge of countering terrorism, domestic state threats and economic crime.
Luke de Pulford, executive director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a group made up of lawmakers from democratic countries concerned about Beijing’s behavior, said that to his knowledge it was the first time a British minister who attends Cabinet had met with a Taiwanese minister.
“This is extremely welcome and sends the right message,” De Pulford said. “The security minister should be congratulated for facing down pressure from other departments and setting a new precedent, which all ministers can now follow.”
The sensitivity of the meeting was borne out by the reluctance of several serving officials and departments to talk to reporters about what was discussed.
A spokeswoman for the British Home Office said: “We do not routinely comment on private ministerial meetings.”
Tang’s office declined to comment.
In other developments, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) on Friday met with members of the European Parliament in Brussels, including European Parliament Vice President Nicola Beer, as part of a previously announced European tour.
Prior to visiting Brussels, Wu, who arrived in Europe on Monday, made stops in Poland and the Czech Republic, international media reported.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not provide a detailed itinerary for Wu’s trip, divulging only that he planned to give a talk at a summit and meet with Ukrainian refugees in Prague.
Knowledge of Wu’s Brussels visit became public after several members of the European parliament shared photographs on social media of themselves with the foreign minister.
Beer, who led the highest-level delegation from the European Parliament to Taiwan in July last year, welcomed Wu’s visit to Brussels following their meeting with six other members of parliament.
“Taiwan is an important and reliable economic partner for the EU and a firm member of the democratic family,” Beer wrote on Twitter, adding that they “agreed to further intensify political, economic and civil exchange and cooperation between the EU & Taiwan.”
Member of the European Parliament Rasa Jukneviciene from Lithuania also said that Taiwan had been a vital part of the democratic world and that “defending its democracy is just as important as defending Ukraine’s.”
The European Commission has declined to say whether any EU officials were scheduled to meet with Wu.
Additional reporting by CNA
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
RSS