Report

Supporting Taiwan: A Calling for Global Britain

This report from UK think tank the Henry Jackson Society looks at the “self-imposed restrictions” that the UK imposes on its relations with Taiwan. 

Supporting Taiwan: A Calling for Global Britain, published today by the Henry Jackson Society, criticises what it brands the “self-imposed restrictions” that the UK imposes on its relations with Taiwan. Since relations with Taiwan were stepped up in 1993, no cabinet minister has visited Taiwan or met with its government as part of an unofficial policy to restrict meetings with Taiwan to the ministerial level. The Foreign Office also does not permit its ministers to travel to Taiwan. Despite the 20-plus-year-absence of Cabinet-level contact, the British Government has – as yet – declined to set out its policy or provide an explanation for the distinction. The report identifies the absence of severe retribution from China in response to American visits to Taiwan at a Cabinet level as all the encouragement that the UK should require for a policy shift.