President Lai receives British parliamentary delegation

2025/02/20

President Lai Ching-te met with Matthew Pottinger, former U.S. deputy national security advisor and Mark President Lai Ching-te welcomed a delegation from the British-Taiwan All-Party Parliamentary Group to the Presidential Office Feb. 18 in Taipei City, anticipating expansion of relations and jointly ensuring regional and global peace and stability.
 
The group is led by APPG Chair Sarah Champion and comprises Lord Purvis of Tweed and MPs Ben Spencer, Helena Dollimore, Noah Law and David Reed.
 
According to the president, Taiwan-U.K. relations have gone from strength to strength in recent years. He thanked delegation members, the U.K. parliament and government for continuing to support Taiwan through a variety of means.
 
Lai praised the success of the Taiwan-UK Enhanced Trade Partnership, the first formal economic and trade framework between Taiwan and a European country. It is hoped that the two sides will swiftly sign investment, digital trade, energy and net-zero transition arrangements to expand bilateral cooperative exchanges, he said.
 
Lai anticipated that the U.K. would continue to support Taiwan’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, so that the two sides can work to build further resilient global supply chains to promote global prosperity and development.
 
In response, Champion said the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China conference held in Taiwan last July was significant, with legislators from 23 countries showing support for Taiwan. She said she was proud that the U.K. parliament supported the clear motion that the UNGA Resolution 2758 was specific to China and only to China, adding that it was an important and powerful recognition.
 
The MP said that maintaining Taiwan’s sovereignty is a common interest for the U.K. and the world. Noting that the U.S. has come out strongly in support of Taiwan, she encourages other countries around the world to do the same. With the 27th Taiwan-U.K. trade talks set to take place soon, she expects further development in the partnership.


Source: Taiwan Today (https://taiwantoday.tw/index.php)