Taiwan and the UK yesterday signed three agreements to enhance bilateral exchanges and cooperation in investments, digital trade, energy and net zero.
The “three pillar” agreements of the UK-Taiwan Enhanced Trade Partnership (ETP) were signed by Representative to the UK Vincent Yao (姚金祥) and his British counterpart Ruth Bradley-Jones at the Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) in Taipei.
The ceremony was attended by visiting British Minister of State for Trade Policy and Economic Security Douglas Alexander and Taiwan’s top trade negotiator Yang Jen-ni (楊珍妮), who heads the OTN.
Photo courtesy of the British Office Taipei via CNA
The “three pillars” cover cooperation on investment, digital trade, and energy and net zero.
Alexander said each of the three pillars represents an opportunity.
“In clean energy, where Taiwan is already a major market for UK companies and where we see significant growth potential. In investment, where we are seeing increased interest from both sides to back strategically significant sectors such as technology and advanced manufacturing. And in digital trade, where our pilot project is demonstrating its immense value to businesses,” he said.
Photo: screen grab from the Presidential Office’s Flickr page
The UK-Taiwan ETP is a great example of this, and is “specifically referenced in the trade strategy,” he said, adding that it provides a “flexible trading arrangement to support the development of our trade and investment relationship in key sectors.”
The OTN and the British Office Taipei said the pacts would pave the way for an open, secure and fair digital trade environment for both sides.
It would also promote closer bilateral investment — especially in supporting women in business, and small and medium-sized enterprises competing in global markets — while helping Taiwan and the UK achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, they said.
The pacts were signed two years after the ETP framework was established in 2023 to focus on sectors with high growth potential.
Alexander yesterday also met with President William Lai (賴清德), where the latter expressed hope that the UK would openly support Taiwan’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Lai thanked the British government for its support for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
Lai said that the UK’s recently published “Strategic Defence Review” and “National Security Strategy,” which opposed any unilateral attempts to change the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, showed that Taiwan and the UK had aligned goals, and underscores the inseparability of security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and transatlantic regions.
Alexander expressed the hope of deepening bilateral cooperation for more innovative collaboration and business success.
Additional reporting by Chen Yun
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man