TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – As former President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) starts her first overseas tour since leaving office, it has been revealed the United Kingdom asked her to postpone a visit, The Guardian reported Saturday (Oct. 12).
Tsai’s eight-day visit includes stops in the Czech Republic with a speech at the Forum 2000 conference, in France, and Belgium. She is set to become Taiwan’s first former president to visit the European Parliament.
Her plans to visit London however, were canceled after the British Foreign Office told organizers they might endanger Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s first official visit to China next week. The British-Taiwanese all-party parliamentary group (APPG) had wanted to host Tsai in parliament.
The Guardian reported that the Taiwanese representative in London passed on a note from the foreign office to the organizers of the visit saying Tsai’s arrival would put an end to Lammy’s plans for a “goodwill visit” to Beijing. The former president has now rescheduled her trip to London for spring 2025, the report said.
Prominent UK politicians said it should be made clear that Tsai was welcome in the country. APPG member Frances D’Souza said parliament was a democratic forum open to many voices, and she hoped it could welcome Tsai soon.