The British House of Commons’ Foreign Affairs Select Committee believes in self-determination and would respect whatever Taiwanese decide about their future, the committee’s chairwoman said in a recent interview.
British lawmaker Alicia Kearns, who chairs the committee, was responding to a Central News Agency question on whether she supported her government diplomatically recognizing Taiwan after her committee released a report in August that said Taiwan is “already an independent country.”
“I would very much like it if we were to move towards recognition of Taiwan. The committee, our report, we are very, very clear in what we want,” Kearns said, referring to formal recognition.
Photo: EPA-EFE / Makoto Lin / Presidential Office
In the committee’s report, “we acknowledge China’s position. We do not accept it, and therefore Taiwan should be able to have that sovereignty that it seeks and deserves,” she said.
The Conservative Party member said that she and other committee members who visited Taiwan last year learned that most Taiwanese wanted to maintain the “status quo.”
“What I don’t want to do is for my committee to somehow aggravate the Chinese government or make the situation worse for the people of Taiwan. It is all about supporting self-determination. It’s all about supporting what you want, and the rights that you deserve to have,” she said. “And therefore my committee, because we believe in self-determination, will always respect what the people of Taiwan think is best for them.”
The Aug. 30 report, titled Tilting Horizons: the Integrated Review and the Indo-Pacific, included Taiwan in its “countries” section, describing it as possessing “all the qualifications for statehood” except for “greater international recognition.”
Despite having a “permanent population, a defined territory, government and the capacity to enter into relations with other states, Taiwan’s government has not made an official proclamation of independence — because China regards that as a casus belli,” the report said.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has said that this is because Taiwan is “an independent country already” and thus “has no need to declare itself an independent state,” the report said.
Like most countries in the world, the UK maintains diplomatic relations with Beijing and only has unofficial ties with Taipei.
Kearns and four of her colleagues visited Taiwan and met with Tsai and other senior officials from Nov. 29 to Dec. 3 last year, the first visit by a committee of the British parliament to Taiwan in 16 years.
Kearns said that the UK’s “one China” policy does not mean it agrees with Beijing’s position that sees Taiwan as part of its territory.
“We essentially acknowledge Beijing’s position. That doesn’t mean that we accept it. It doesn’t mean that we don’t think there are challenges around the ways that they see it,” she said.
Kearns said she was concerned that acknowledging Beijing’s position meant that some British officials were “overly cautious when it comes to their activities and their engagements with Taiwan.”
“The ambiguity that that creates is actually risking the full potential of our relationship between the UK and Taiwan,” she said.
There should be a formal document “that looks at where our strategic priorities should be for our relationship with Taiwan,” she said.
Asked if she had anything to say to Taiwanese as the country prepares for its presidential election in January, Kearns said that she would love to see more people casting ballots to choose their leaders.
“We know that ... unfortunately, your big neighbor ... is happy to restrict you of that freedom and that right to have your voice and have your say,” Kearns said.
“So please go out. Vote, have a say and make sure that you continue to be one of our foremost democratic partners in Asia,” she said.
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