Foreign Minister David Lin told the legislature on Friday that Taiwan respects the outcome of Scotland’s independence referendum.
Scottish voters rejected a proposal to split from the United Kingdom on Thursday. Lin said that the Scottish referendum was carried out peacefully according to the principles of democracy and rule of law. He also said Taiwan is willing to continue strengthening cooperation both with Scotland and with the UK as a whole.
But Lin said that Taiwan’s situation is completely different from the situation in Scotland. He said that the Republic of China is already a sovereign country. The Republic of China is Taiwan’s official name. Therefore, there is no need for Taiwan to have an independence referendum similar to the one held in Scotland.