The British parliament has for the first time referred to Taiwan as an “independent country” in an official document, breaking a political taboo as Foreign Secretary James Cleverly visits China this week.

The new language, adopted in a report published Wednesday by the influential foreign affairs committee of the House of Commons, risks a stinging backlash from Beijing and comes as Cleverly becomes the first top British envoy to visit Beijing in five years amid a frosty relationship.

Beijing has long denied Taiwan’s statehood, insisting the self-governing democratic island is part of its territory. Only 13 countries around the world recognize Taipei instead of Beijing diplomatically.

  • awwwyissss@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    20
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    Good. Taiwan is a country. They have a military, they make their own laws, they have their own passports, and (unlike China) they elect their government leaders.

    • redcalcium@lemmy.institute
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      16
      ·
      1 year ago

      What?! China has election too. Not only that, the congress will elect the president on behalf of their citizen so their citizen don’t need to waste their time going to election booth. Very convenient! Even the ballot only contains one candidate so there is no confusion when casting vote.

    • barsoap@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yep ironically it’s the autonomous mainland provinces which are stubbornly refusing to declare independence from the Republic of China. The ROC won’t stop them, they only have to want it. I mean quite a number of KMT folks would whinge but they’d accept it.

    • joel@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      1 year ago

      uhh yeah, so anyway, this is good news for Taiwan because they have a MASSIVE country on their doorstep that has been threatening to invade for decades now, and having another powerful country recognise their existence is great because it discourages mainland China from invading.

      • LarkinDePark@lemmygrad.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        12
        ·
        1 year ago

        Tell that to Ukraine. So lucky to have the support of imperialist America who only have its best interests at heart.

    • jdr@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Both are illegitimate rebels, bring back Ming dynasty.

  • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    1 year ago

    It’s worth pointing out that James Cleverly is the most inappropriately named person ever.

    I wouldn’t put it past them to have just accidentally released that document without thinking about the consequences.