From 30 July to 4 August, a delegation of UK parliamentarians, including British-Taiwanese All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) member Baroness D’Souza, UK House of Lords Deputy Speaker Baroness Garden of Frognal as well as Lord Best, visited Taiwan on a six-day cultural, economic and political fact-finding trip. On 30 July, the delegation met with President Tsai, who thanked them for their long-term support for Taiwan’s international participation and expressed hope that their visit will create even more opportunities for collaboration in the future. The president highlighted the government’s commitment to expanding Taiwan-UK exchanges across artificial intelligence, renewable energy and trade. She also pointed out the increasing number of reciprocal visits by senior officials and lawmakers from Taiwan and the UK illustrates the healthy state of bilateral relations. In addition to growing official exchanges, President Tsai highlighted strengthening trade ties, citing the 40 per cent surge in British shipments to Taiwan last year.
During their visit, the delegation also met with President of Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan Chia-chyuan Su, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu and Chair of the Taiwan-UK Parliamentary Friendship Association Mei-Nu Yu to exchange views. The UK parliamentarians called on several government departments, including the Ministries of Justice, Science and Technology and Economic Affairs.