TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) expressed hope that the UK would continue to support Taiwan’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership during a meeting with a UK parliamentary delegation on Tuesday.
Taiwan and the UK cooperate in areas such as technological innovation, economic resilience, and green energy transition, Lai said, according to the Presidential Office. In 2023, the two sides signed the Enhanced Trade Partnership Arrangement, Taiwan’s first institutionalized bilateral economic and trade framework with a European country, he said. Under the ETP framework, Taiwan and the UK signed three additional sub-agreements on investment, digital trade, and energy and net-zero emissions last year, the president added.
Lai said the world is rapidly changing and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait are closely linked to global supply-chain resilience and global prosperity. He pointed out that the UK Parliament has consistently played a key role in urging the British government to pay greater attention to peace in the Taiwan Strait and to support Taiwan’s international participation.
He thanked friends in parliament for their strong support for Taiwan, demonstrated through public debates, written inquiries, and joint letters. He also thanked the UK government and parliament for repeatedly voicing opposition to unilateral changes to the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and for emphasizing that security in the Indo-Pacific and Atlantic is indivisible.
Lai pledged that Taiwan would deepen economic and trade exchanges with the UK and help foster a new chapter of prosperity in Indo-Pacific economic and trade development.
The delegation comprised members of the British-Taiwanese All-Party Parliamentary Group and was led by Lord Rogan, the deputy speaker of the House of Lords.
