UK MPs on Foreign Affairs Committee set to visit Taiwan

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Taiwan has condemned what it said were “fallacious comments” by China following the self-governing island’s presidential and parliamentary election on Saturday.
Taiwan has condemned what it said were “fallacious comments” by China following the self-governing island’s presidential and parliamentary election on Saturday.

A group of crossparty MPs are set to visit Taiwan in a move that will further inflame UK-China tensions.

Westminster’s Foreign Affairs Committee was planning on making a trip to Taipei earlier this year, however it was postponed due to a positive Covid-19 case within the British delegation.

The Guardian first reported that the trip will now go ahead in the coming months and is intended to be a signal of support for the independence of Taiwan, which Beijing claims is still a part of China.

City PM has confirmed that the delegation will likely be led by committee chair and fallen Tory leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat.

It comes as final two Tory leadership candidates Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss last week vied with each other to be the most hawkish on China.

Both have vowed to clamp down on Beijing’s attempts at cyber espionage and its unfair trade practices, with China’s ambassador to the UK claiming the pair were “peddling the fallacy of the so-called China threat”.

News of the Taiwan trip comes amid reports that Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi is planning to visit Taiwan herself.

This is a move that would infuriate Beijing and comes after Chinese President Xi Jinping recently told US President Joe Biden to not “play with fire” over the status of Taiwan.