Luke de Pulford, the executive director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a group made up of lawmakers from democratic countries concerned about Beijing’s behaviour, said to his knowledge it was the first time a British minister who attends cabinet had met with a Taiwanese minister.
“This is extremely welcome and sends the right message,” he said. “The security minister should be congratulated for facing down pressure from other departments and setting a new precedent, which all ministers can now follow.”
The sensitivity of the meeting was borne out by the reluctance of several serving officials and departments to talk to Reuters about what was discussed.
A spokeswoman for the Home Office said: “We do not routinely comment on private ministerial meetings.”
Tang’s office declined to comment.
Tang on Thursday posted a picture on Twitter of her reading of a soon-to-be-published book whose author, Bill Raduchel, says it evolved from conversations with Tugendhat in 2019.
“Learning from @TomTugendhat delivers dividends,” she said in the tweet. “Let’s #FreeTheFuture = together!”
Tang was on a rare high-level ministerial trip to Britain this week. Her office said she was expected to visit government departments and meet a company specialising in low-earth orbit satellites.
The last Taiwanese minister known to have visited Britain was Taiwan’s top trade negotiator, John Deng, who came last June.
Last November, Britain’s then-junior trade minister, Greg Hands, went to Taiwan and met President Tsai Ing-wen. China denounced the trip, as it does with all such interactions.