British lawmaker Sonny Leong (梁辛尼) praised Taiwan as a beacon of democracy and pledged to help strengthen UK-Taiwan ties if his party wins the next general election.
Leong, who co-chairs the Labour Friends of Taiwan and is the shadow spokesperson of the House of Lords on business and trade, said earlier this week that the Labour Party upholds values such as human rights, social justice and democracy.
“I see Taiwan as a beacon of democracy in this part of the world, and I would like to do whatever I can to share, engage with the Taiwanese people and hopefully get the Labour parliamentarians to also meet with the Taiwanese parliamentarians,” Leong said.
Photo: CNA
The Labour Party is likely to hand the Conservative Party a resounding defeat and is set to win 400 seats, versus the latter’s 155, a recent survey in the UK showed.
He and his colleagues are looking forward to a Labour administration, he said. “Hopefully, some of my colleagues that are accompanying me [on my current Taiwan visit], instead of becoming shadow ministers, would become ministers.”
When asked about whether a Labour administration might change the UK’s policy on cross-strait affairs, Leong said that the government “acknowledges China’s position as far as Taiwan is concerned.”
“We, as a Labour government, would continue with that policy and work very closely to strengthen people-to-people ties and enhance trade partnership,” he said, adding that there are many other potential areas for bilateral cooperation.
“Because of artificial intelligence and cybercrime, we need to have international cooperation, and we look forward to that cooperation with Taiwan,” Leong said.
As a parliamentarian who has championed the role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in building the economy, he was said he was delighted to see that SMEs dominated Taiwan’s economy.
“I would love to see many, many more British businesses work with Taiwanese businesses and actually have joint ventures,” Leong said.
One of the Taiwanese businesses that captured Leong’s interest was Kavalan, a whisky distillery. He mentioned the success of the brand, which hit the global stage in less than 20 years, during his meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Tuesday.
Kavalan is an example of “how to innovate by learning from others across the globe and establish a vision by blending traditions with modern techniques,” he said, adding that the business model was an example for him and his Labour Party colleagues.
When asked about his singular role in his party’s House of Lords members, Leong said that not many British people of East Asian heritage would choose to enter the political arena.
“To a certain extent, that’s also cultural,” he said. “When I was growing up, if I’d told my parents I wanted to get into politics, they would’ve said, ‘What are you talking about? Go and be a doctor, an engineer, an accountant.’”
Leong said people of East Asian heritage need to speak up for themselves in the UK, which is a very diverse country.
“If we don’t speak up for ourselves, no one else is going to speak on our behalf,” he said. “In a very diverse community, you have to shout.”
“So for me, being the first Labour East Asian peer is a privilege,” Leong said. “I hope it doesn’t stop with me.”
Leong was on a one-week visit to Taiwan that concluded on Friday, whose delegation included House of Lords members Lord Grantchester and Lord McNicol, and House of Commons members Sharon Hodgson, Diana Johnson, Navendu Mishra and Andrew Western.
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