UK parliamentary committee to visit Taiwan
LONDON:A British parliamentary commitee is visiting Taiwan this week to meet President Tsai Ing-wen and other senior officials, the Foreign Affairs Commitee said in a statement on Tuesday.
The visit is part of the commitee’s work examining a shit in British foreign policy towards the Indo Pacific region, which the government has identified as an economic and diplomatic priority since leaving the European Union.
“This visit to Taiwan has long been a priority for the Foreign Affairs Commitee,” said chair of the commitee, Alicia Kearns.
“The multiple challenges to security and prosperity across the globe make constructive ties between democracies, such as those enjoyed by the UK and Taiwan, all the more important.”
The commitee is a parliamentary body, separate from government and made up of elected lawmakers from a range of parties. It scrutinises government policy but does not have statutory powers.
The commitee will hold a press conference on Dec.2.
Earlier this year a visit to Taiwan by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi angered China, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory. Taiwan’s government rejects China’s sovereignty claims.
Britain and China are engaged in a number of simultaneous diplomatic spats, including over Taiwan.
Separately, a Taiwanese couple is facing multiple charges for allegedly bribing voters with Chinese COVID-19 tests ahead of the island’s local elections, prosecutors said on Tuesday.
Chiu Jui-lien and her husband are reportedly the first indicted for violating the “anti-infiltration law” aimed at countering influence from China — which views self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to seize the island.
The law, pushed by Tsai Ing-wen’s ruling party in 2019, bans “hostile” foreign forces from campaigning, lobbying, making political donations or spreading disinformation related to elections.
Chiu, who was running for borough chief in Taipei city, and her husband were indicted on Monday for giving out Chinese COVID-19 tests to solicit votes, the Shihlin district prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
The free tests were supplied by the Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Zone in China’s Fujian province, established in 2009 with the goal of boosting regional development and its bond with Taiwan.