President William Lai (賴清德) congratulated Labour Party leader Keir Starmer on becoming Britain’s new prime minister after his party’s landslide election win.
In a post on social media on Friday evening, Lai offered his congratulations to Starmer and said he looked forward to “work[ing] together for innovation and global prosperity” in the future.
In a similar move on Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release that it had instructed Taiwan’s representative office in the UK to convey Taiwan’s sincere congratulations on the general election to the British government and its people.
Photo: Wu Cheng-feng, Taipei Times
The Labour Party had secured 411 seats out of 650 seats in the UK general election, BBC reported on Friday.
Starmer was sworn in as prime minister on the same day, replacing Rishi Sunak and ending 14 years of Conservative Party rule.
Taiwan looks forward to furthering its cooperation with the new British government in areas of mutual interests, the ministry said in a press release
The nation also wishes to work with the UK, continue deepening the two sides’ bilateral democratic partnership, and contribute to peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region, it said.
Starmer visited Taiwan in 2016 and in 2018, and met with senior Taiwanese officials, such as then-vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) and then-minister of justice Chiu Tai-san (邱太三), the statement said.
In addition, a delegation from the Labour Party, led by Lord Leong, who was then the parliament’s shadow spokesperson on business and trade, traveled to Taiwan in March and met with then-president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the statement said.
The Labour Party looked forward to continuing to strengthen bilateral exchanges with Taiwan in the fields of economics, trade, education and culture, it cited the delegation as saying.
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