The Minister for Asia (Amanda Milling)
I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Rutland and Melton (Alicia Kearns) for securing this debate on UK co-operation with Taiwan. I thank Members from across the House for their insightful contributions. I will do my best to cover as many of the points raised as possible, because it really has been a lengthy and wide-ranging debate.
Members of the House will be aware of the unique nature of the UK’s relationship with Taiwan. We are not represented by an embassy in Taiwan but rather by a British office. Our team there drive forward our unofficial but undoubtedly important relationship with Taiwan. As we have heard, our relations are built on an increasingly wide range of shared economic, scientific and educational interests, and a shared consideration of global challenges around climate and health.
I start by addressing up front the increased tensions in the Taiwan strait, which a number of Members rightly raised. We have seen the significant impact of China’s military modernisation and growing assertiveness across the Indo-Pacific region. The UK has a clear interest in ensuring peace and stability in the Taiwan strait. Without it, the prosperity and security interests of both the UK and our like-minded partners would surely suffer. It is in this context that the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary have expressed their concerns at the numerous Chinese military flights that have taken place near Taiwan in recent days and months. These flights are not conducive to regional peace. We need a peaceful resolution to the tensions through a constructive dialogue by people on both sides of the strait. We will continue to work with our international partners on this issue. The G7 Foreign and Development communiqué last May underscored the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan strait. Ministers undertook to encourage the peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues. We will continue to prioritise peace and stability in our discussions.
Many Members rightly mentioned trade. Another of our priorities is our trade relationship with Taiwan, which, as many pointed out, is thriving. UK exports to Taiwan rose by 86% between 2016 and 2019. Even last year, as the pandemic took hold, our exports to Taiwan increased by a further quarter. Let me reassure Members that we want to continue to develop that economic relationship, and the Department for International Trade holds annual ministerial trade talks with Taiwan to do just that. The most recent talks were held in October 2021, co-chaired by the Minister for Trade Policy, my right hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth North (Penny Mordaunt). Those talks deepened the UK’s and Taiwan’s economic and commercial partnerships across a range of areas, and saw progress on market access ambitions including energy and offshore wind power, financial services, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and—I must of course mention this—whisky. Taiwan is the fourth largest market for Scottish whisky by value.
The UK and Taiwan are also partners on climate action. We are increasingly sharing expertise on floating offshore wind and multi-use port development. We also collaborate on skills and workforce planning for the renewable energy sector. UK businesses support Taiwan’s ambition to increase its proportion of renewable energy to 20% by 2025. More than 30 UK offshore wind companies have set up operations in Taiwan. The third UK-Taiwan energy dialogue last year promoted our expertise in decarbonisation and offshore wind, and agreed new areas of co-operation including Taiwan’s commitment to reach net zero by 2050. The dialogue made progress on market access issues affecting UK companies, and our offshore renewable energy Catapult signed a memorandum of understanding with Taiwan’s top research institute to help new partnerships in energy innovation.
Members mentioned education. Taiwan has set out plans to become a bilingual society in Mandarin and English by 2030. The UK, through the British Council, is a natural partner to help advance English language education, teaching and assessment.
Many touched on support for Taiwan on the international stage. Beyond our UK-Taiwan co-operation, we think it important for the international community to benefit from Taiwanese expertise in a range of areas. We are therefore working with partners to support Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organisations as a member where statehood is not a prerequisite, and as an observer or guest where it is. We have worked hard with partners across a range of multilateral organisations to secure meaningful access for Taiwan, in a manner that is consistent with its status, and will continue to make the case in future. For example, at the 2021 World Health Assembly we named Taiwan in the UK’s national speech for the first time, and made the case, alongside like-minded countries, that Taiwan’s inclusion benefits global health. That includes its meaningful participation in ongoing technical meetings and allowing its health experts to access and participate in relevant facilities and virtual formats, as well as information exchange platforms.
As Members have pointed out, we need to learn from Taiwan’s leading example in tackling covid-19. It has rightly won the world’s admiration for its assured response, honed from its experience of SARS and using innovative technology to keep the virus at bay. We have facilitated expert-level dialogues between UK health experts and the Taiwan Centres for Disease Control, and we will continue to take forward plans this year for a UK-Taiwan expert health dialogue.
Members will be aware that Taiwan produces most of the high-performance semiconductors that drive our digital economy. It has a critical role in the technology supply chains that underpin global markets and invests heavily in research and innovation. We want our flourishing co-operation with Taiwan on science and technology to continue.
On semiconductor co-operation, the UK’s Compound Semiconductor Applications Catapult signed a memorandum of understanding in 2020 with Taiwan’s largest applied research institute, the Industrial Technology Research Institute. The MOU provides a platform for co-operation on advanced chips.
Taiwan’s MediaTek, the world’s largest smartphone chip designer has recently expanded its research centres in Cambridge and London. We are keen to build on that co-operation and a project is currently under way through which the UK and Taiwan can scope out new opportunities in the sector.
I am conscious of the time and wish to give my hon. Friend the Member for Rutland and Melton the opportunity to respond to the debate, so let me conclude. Although the UK’s long-standing position on Taiwan has not changed, we are proud of our relationship. I reassure the House that we will continue to advocate for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organisations for which statehood is not a prerequisite. Enduring peace and stability in the Taiwan strait is not just in the UK interest but a matter of global concern, so we will continue to work with our international partners to discourage any activity that undermines the status quo.