Threatening acts by Beijing are “not the conduct of a responsible international actor,” British Minister of State for the Indo-Pacific Anne-Marie Trevelyan said yesterday in a display of support for Taiwan.
She made the comment after lawmaker Stewart McDonald during a debate in the House of Commons in London asked the British government to explain its support of the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, despite China’s “expansionist behavior.”
Trevelyan said the UK’s long-standing position is for the peaceful settlement of the Taiwan issue “by the people on both sides of the Strait without the threat or use of force or coercion.”
Photo: AFP
The UK and the world have a “clear interest” in ensuring the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific as a whole, as a conflict would have a tragic human and economic cost for the world, she said.
The UK is committed to working with its international partners to “underscore the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait” in light of China’s assertive actions, including military flights that have escalated tensions, she said.
The UK supports Taiwan’s inclusion in the international community, which is in the global public interest, and Taiwanese can make valuable contributions on issues of global concern, she added.
“The UK has an important role to play in supporting continued peace and stability in the Strait, and we can only benefit from that continued engagement with Taiwan as a thriving democracy and an important economic partner,” Trevelyan said.
McDonald said that he believes the British government’s attitude to Taiwan is positive, but he hopes London would go further than its current stance.
Limits on exchanges of senior officials between Taiwan and the UK should be reduced, and London’s de facto embassy to Taiwan should be given an appropriate legal status if bilateral cooperation in trade and other fields is to be improved, he said.
Taiwan’s experience in dealing with disinformation offers valuable lessons for the UK, McDonald added.
In response to a request for comment, Alicia Kearns, chair of the House of Commons’ Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said that the committee emphasized the importance of continued cooperation with Taiwan in a report to parliament.
The British government should have the courage to make clear that London has taken note of Beijing’s “one China” principle, but does not acknowledge it, Kearns said.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
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