China threatened to cancel key commerce talks after UK minister’s Taiwan go to in June | Taiwan

[ad_1] China threatened to cancel high-level commerce talks with the UK earlier this yr over a authorities minister’s go to to Taiwan, the Guardian can disclose.

Beijing instructed the British authorities it might pull its first commerce and financial dialogue with the UK in seven years after Douglas Alexander, then a commerce minister, travelled to Taipei in late June.

The engagement threatened to scupper the UK-China commerce and financial fee (Jetco), which in the end did go forward after diplomats privately scrambled to comprise the diplomatic fallout with Beijing.

Peter Kyle flew to China for the assembly in early September, days after he was appointed enterprise and commerce secretary.

China’s risk to cancel the talks, based on two well-placed UK sources briefed on the discussions, got here after Alexander visited Taipei on 29 and 30 June and met the Taiwanese president, Lai Ching-te.

Throughout the go to, which obtained little media consideration within the UK, Alexander, now secretary of state for Scotland, held talks together with his Taiwanese counterpart, Cynthia Kiang, and pledged to spice up commerce in key sectors.

Beijing is extraordinarily delicate about different nations’ engagement with Taiwan, which it views as a breakaway province that can ultimately come underneath its management. There are fears it'll ultimately attempt to annex the island by pressure.

map of the 12 nations that keep diplomatic ties with Taiwan Taiwan has by no means been dominated by the Individuals’s Republic of China and has its personal structure. Its inhabitants has grown more and more against China’s claims of sovereignty over it, electing a succession of leaders who've pledged to uphold its self-governing standing.

The Guardian disclosed final yr that the International Workplace had intervened to postpone a deliberate go to by the previous Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen as a result of it coincided with David Lammy’s first journey to China as overseas secretary.

The Chinese language authorities strongly condemned a go to to Taiwan by a Labour get together parliamentary delegation within the spring of 2024, whereas the get together was nonetheless in opposition.

The UK doesn't recognise Taiwan as a rustic however has a longstanding unofficial relationship with its authorities, together with by way of ministerial talks, which have been held since 1991. Bilateral commerce between the UK and Taiwan was price £9.3bn final yr.

British warships have taken half in operations within the waters round Taiwan lately, which has angered China.

In the meantime ministers have come underneath stress from opposition events and campaigners over their diplomatic rapprochement with Beijing.

The federal government is getting ready to approve controversial plans to construct a Chinese language super-embassy close to Tower Bridge in London after receiving the inexperienced mild from the safety companies. Keir Starmer is planning to journey to Beijing for his first bilateral go to in late January.

Critics have argued that the embassy presents a safety threat. UK intelligence companies have repeatedly warned of large-scale Chinese language espionage concentrating on authorities, business and academia.

Downing Road has argued that consolidating all of China’s diplomatic presence in London into one constructing can have a safety profit.

A authorities spokesperson stated: “We proceed to interact with China in areas of commerce that profit our nationwide pursuits. Our longstanding place on Taiwan has not modified and this go to was throughout the anticipated and longstanding bounds of our relationship.

“We proceed to discover a spread of alternatives to additional improve our commerce relations and assist financial development as a part of our goal to strengthen bilateral commerce and funding between the UK and Taiwan.”

The enterprise division stated the Jetco talks that occurred in September would assist safe £1bn in market entry offers for the UK over 5 years.

It was the primary set of such talks since 2018, when diplomatic relations with China started to deteriorate and dialogue turned tougher due to the Covid-19 pandemic.