Asked by: Callum Anderson (Labour - Buckingham and Bletchley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether his Department plans to publish a roadmap for the implementation of the commitments made under the investment pillar of the UK–Taiwan Enhanced Trade Partnership.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Secretary of State for Scotland
As set out in the UK’s Trade Strategy, flexible trading arrangements and partnerships, such as the UK-Taiwan Enhanced Trade Partnership (ETP), are a valuable part of our toolkit.
The Investment Pillar of the ETP, along with the Digital Trade and Energy & Net Zero Pillars, sets out commitments on our respective trade and investment environments and frameworks. Our cooperation through the ETP will support trade and investment across all sectors, especially in the growth driving sectors outlined in the Modern Industrial Strategy. In particular, we will be focusing our implementation activities on complementary strengths between the UK and Taiwan, including in Advanced Manufacturing, Offshore Wind and Digital Infrastructure.
My department will keep businesses informed as we work with Taiwan to deliver our commitments under the ETP.
Asked by: Baroness D'Souza (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the reported recent visit of the Chief of Defence Staff to China, whether they will place minutes of meetings held with his Chinese counterparts in the Library of the House; and what assessment they have made of the impact of prospective Sino-British military cooperation on cross-Taiwan Strait stability.
Answered by Lord Coaker - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence does not routinely publish readouts after individual bilateral meetings. The Chief of the Defence Staff met with General Liu Zhenli, Chief of Staff of the Joint Staff Department of the Central Military Commission, and they discussed a range of security issues reflecting the importance of military-to-military communications.
We have a clear interest in peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. We consider the Taiwan issues one to be settled peacefully by the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait through constructive dialogue, without the threat or use of force or coercion. We do not support any unilateral attempts to change the status quo.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications for his policies of military (a) operations and (b) drills conducted by China near Taiwan.
Answered by Catherine West
The UK has a clear interest in peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. We consider the Taiwan issue one to be settled peacefully by people on both sides of the Strait without threat or use of force or coercion. The UK opposes any activity that risks destabilising the status quo, including escalatory activities by China.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office issued a statement in response to China's latest military drills on 2 April, and we subsequently joined G7 partners to reemphasise the importance of peace and stability in the Strait in a joint statement on 6 April.
Asked by: Priti Patel (Conservative - Witham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Chinese counterpart on that country's military (a) operations and (b) drills near Taiwan since July 2024.
Answered by Catherine West
The UK has been clear on the continued need for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, including in our recent statement alongside G7 partners following China's military drills last week. The Foreign Secretary has raised this with Wang Yi several times, including at the UK-China Strategic Dialogue in February.
Asked by: Graeme Downie (Labour - Dunfermline and Dollar)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what plans he has for when the next round of formal trade negotiations with Taiwan will take place.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Secretary of State for Scotland
The UK's longstanding position on Taiwan has not changed. The UK-Taiwan Trade Talks have taken place since 1991 and I look forward to co-chairing these this year. Under the UK and Taiwan Enhanced Trade Partnership we have committed to developing 'pillars' on Investment, Digital Trade and Renewable Energy and Net Zero. We are working with the Taiwanese authorities to develop and deliver these.
UK-Taiwan Trade Talks and the Enhanced Trade Partnership will support our strong unofficial relationship with Taiwan, based on deep and growing ties in a range of areas, including trade and investment.
Asked by: Lord Kempsell (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the security situation in the Taiwan Strait.
Answered by Baroness Chapman of Darlington - Minister of State (Development)
The UK has a clear interest in peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. We consider the Taiwan issue one to be settled peacefully by people on both sides of the Strait through constructive dialogue, without the threat or use of force or coercion. We are concerned by any activity that risks destabilising the status quo and have stated this alongside our G7 partners, including in the most recent G7 Foreign Ministers' statement.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to safeguard students from (a) Hong Kong, (b) Tibet, (c) Taiwan and (d) Xinjiang, who are persecuted by the Chinese authorities on UK campuses.
Answered by Janet Daby
The first duty of the government is to keep the country safe and this government is committed to responding to foreign interference, including those actions which amount to transnational repression. The government takes protection of individuals' rights, freedoms and safety very seriously, and any attempt by any foreign state to intimidate, harass or harm individuals in the UK will not be tolerated. Anyone who thinks they might be a victim should report incidents or suspicious activity to the Police via 101, a local police station or 999 in emergencies. As autonomous institutions, the department also expects universities to have robust processes in place to prevent and tackle incidents of harassment and abuse on campuses.
The department is taking specific steps to ensure our world-leading universities remain free from foreign interference. This includes the implementation of the new complaints scheme in the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, which will offer a focussed route for concerns, including relating to foreign interference in academic freedom and free speech, to be escalated. The government is also working at pace on the implementation of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, which will require registration of foreign directed activity involving specific governments and entities where it is necessary to protect the safety or interests of the UK. The department expects the scheme to commence summer this year.
The department continues to work closely with the sector to increase their understanding of the risks and their ability to respond. We are conducting an internal review, informed by engagement with the regulator, sector, academics impacted by foreign interference, as well as international partners, to assess existing approaches to managing the risk of foreign interference and what more support they might need.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the annual quota for each of the Youth Mobility Scheme partner countries (a) was in 2024 and (b) is in 2025.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Quotas for the UK’s Youth Mobility Scheme visa route are published in Appendix Youth Mobility Scheme: eligible nationals of the Immigration Rules. The quotas for the upcoming year were set out in Statement of changes to the Immigration Rules HC 733 on 12 March and will be implemented in the Immigration Rules on 9 April. Quota information from previous years is also published online in the archived Immigration Rules.
For 2024, we allocated the following quotas for each of our partner countries:
- Andorra – 100 places
- Australia – 45,000 places
- Canada – 8,000 places
- Hong Kong – 1,000 places
- Iceland – 1,000 places
- India – 3,000 places
- Japan – 6,000 places
- Monaco – 1,000 places
- New Zealand – 8,500 places
- Republic of Korea - 5,000 places
- San Marino – 1,000 places
- Taiwan – 1,000 places
- Uruguay – 500 places.
For 2025, we have allocated the following quotas for each of our partner countries:
- Andorra – 100 places
- Australia – 42,000 places
- Canada – 10,000 places
- Hong Kong – 1,000 places
- Iceland – 1,000 places
- India – 3,000 places
- Japan – 6,000 places
- Monaco – 1,000 places
- New Zealand – 9,500 places
- Republic of Korea - 5,000 places
- San Marino – 1,000 places
- Taiwan – 1,000 places
- Uruguay – 500 places.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he plans to take to protect British businesses against the effects of grey zone attacks on undersea cable communication infrastructure between Taiwan and Europe.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
Subsea cables are critical to UK telecommunications digital infrastructure, and we are committed to maintaining and enhancing the security and resilience of that infra- structure. We continue to co-ordinate with HMG partners, particularly DSIT who own subsea cables policy, as well as security partners, the subsea cables industry and international bodies to assess and understand risks to subsea cables.
Asked by: Bobby Dean (Liberal Democrat - Carshalton and Wallington)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the strategic role of Taiwan on the UK’s defence.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The UK’s longstanding position on Taiwan has not changed. The UK has a clear interest in peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. We consider the Taiwan issue one to be settled peacefully by both sides of the Taiwan Strait through constructive dialogue, without the threat or use of force or coercion.