Lord Bruce of Bennachie
Main Page: Lord Bruce of Bennachie (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)(1 day, 21 hours ago)
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Lord Lemos (Lab)
My Lords, as I said, our long-standing position has not changed. The UK maintains strong unofficial links with Taiwan in trade, education, and science and innovation. We think those are the ways in which we can continue to help and support Taiwan and its resilience. For example, we conduct annual trade talks and semiconductor and energy dialogues. The most recent of those was in November 2025. We also have frequent ministerial visits. My right honourable friend Douglas Alexander visited Taiwan last year. In his recent visit to China—this goes to the point the noble Baroness made—the Prime Minister continued to advocate for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, emphasising that the UK opposes any unilateral changes in the status quo. He raised those points directly with President Xi.
Lord Bruce of Bennachie (LD)
My Lords, Taiwan has built an impressive democracy over the past 20 years and set up its own foundation for democracy along the lines of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, which also works there. However, the reality for Taiwan is that its democracy will survive only as long as it survives and is not incorporated into China. No “one country, two systems” model is now available, given the destruction of that model that has been wreaked upon Hong Kong. What are the Government doing with others to ensure that China is fully deterred from taking any action against Taiwan?
Lord Lemos (Lab)
As I said, we do not support anyone taking unilateral action in Taiwan. As the noble Lord knows, we work closely with our partners and allies on this. We are aware of Taiwan’s strategic importance to global trade in maritime movement of goods and semiconductors, and therefore not only in relation to democratic values and the points that the noble Lord raises. We are very conscious indeed of the importance of Taiwan and we take that into account in not only our bilateral work with it but our relations with our partners and allies.