The foreign ministry says it will not comment on a UK petition calling for London to formally recognize Taiwan as a country.
The proposal appears on the UK Parliament’s petitions website. As of Wednesday, the petition is roughly halfway to getting the 10,000 signatures needed to get a government response. If the petition manages to get 100,000 signatures before July 18, it will also be considered for Parliamentary debate.
Taiwan’s representative to the UK, Liu Chih-kung has declined to comment on the petition. In a statement on Wednesday, foreign ministry spokesperson Eleanor Wang gave the ministry’s position.
"The Republic of China has been an independent country since 1912," said Wang. "This petition is an expression of ordinary people’s opinions. Our representative office in the UK will not comment or intervene. Our view of the matter is the same as that of Representative Liu Chih-kung: every person can voice their opinion, and we will not comment."