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b)
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This would represent a new level of access for the TRO (see
also below). More important however for the UK interests is the overall impact which this mission will have on our commercial prospects.
our Ministerial visits to Taiwan have so far been at
Minister of State level. I recommend that if there was a
good practical reason, we should agree to a visit at
Cabinet level. The obvious possibility would be a visit by
the President of the Board of Trade to clinch the BAe
regional jet deal. Obviously the Chinese would be much
more sensitive about such a visit than the low-key visits
we have had so far, but as long as the purpose was а
practical one and we produced a suitable "private" pretext,
we should be able to defend it. Also, to date we have been
limiting Ministerial visits to around 3 a year. I
recommend that we gradually shorten the gap between such
visits.
c)
FCO contact with the Taiwanese has not so far been above
AUS level. I recommend that we look for opportunities to
raise this. The AUS and Head of FED have regular lunches
with the Taiwan Representative, hosted by a former
Ambassador Sir W Bentley. At some stage we could involve
Sir J Coles in this series. We could also look for a
suitable opportunity for an unofficial contact on neutral
ground with Mr Goodlad. One possibility may be the
forthcoming private visit of a parliamentary delegation
from Taiwan in July (with which we are offering a small
amount of discreet help). Assuming that the UK-Taiwan
Parliamentary Group (chaired by Mr William Powell MP) hosts
a reception in the House, Mr Goodlad might look in.
purpose would be to show FCO support for our closer ties
with Taiwan. We would expect Mr Needham and perhaps
Scottish/Welsh Ministers also to attend.
The
SBTAIWAN
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