From 19-21 June, a delegation from the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD), a Taiwanese NGO working to strengthen democracy and human rights in Taiwan, visited the UK to promote cooperation on human rights and the spread of democracy.
Led by TFD President Dr Szu-Chien Hsu and accompanied by Representative Lin and the Deputy Minister of the Mainland Affairs Council Lin Cheng-yi, the delegation began its visit by meeting with Desmond Swayne, MP for New Forest West, and Bob Stewart, MP for Beckenham, discussing the latest developments in British politics and the work of the TFD.
In subsequent days, the delegation called on the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Chatham House, the Royal United Services Institute, and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), their counterpart organisation, where they held in-depth exchanges on their activities, as well as cross-Strait relations, Asia-Pacific regional security, human rights issues in mainland China and Hong Kong, and NGO interactions between mainland China and Taiwan.
The delegation also met with the CEO of WFD, Anthony Smith, where they discussed the potential for collaboration between WFD and TFD in East-Asia. During the discussion, Representative Lin suggested the WFD’s five Asian regional offices could contact Taiwan’s diplomatic missions in those countries to help build a network dedicated to the spread of democracy.
