By Stefan Boscia
The new chair of Westminster’s Foreign Affairs Committee has confirmed she will lead a delegation to Taiwan.
Conservative MP for Rutland and Melton Alicia Kearns today said she has been rallying the committee to go to Taiwan since 2020, but that it would not be intended to “antagonise” China.
Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the US House of Representatives, visited the Taiwanese capital of Taipei earlier this year in a move that enraged Beijing.
The Chinese government still considers Taiwan to be a part of mainland China and it is the international norm for countries to avoid official diplomatic links with its government.
China launched a series of military exercises around the Taiwanese border in retaliation for Pelosi’s visit, igniting fresh fears of a serious conflict.
Kearns told Times Radio that “the reason for visiting Taiwan is to understand what’s going on in Taiwan, to understand the crisis, to understand the relationships”.
When asked about China’s potential reaction to a trip to Taiwan by UK MPs, Kearns told Times Radio: “It’s their choice. What they did with the Pelosi visit was they decided to make it such a big dramatic event.
“They could have chosen to ignore it. They could have played it down. But they didn’t, they tried to weaponise it.”
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