Han touts meeting with U.K. parliamentary speaker during recent visit

Taipei, May 18 (CNA) Taiwan's Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) said upon his return to Taiwan on Sunday that he had met with U.K. House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle during his visit to Britain last week, marking the first meeting between a Taiwanese legislative speaker and the speaker of the House of Commons.

Speaking to reporters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Han said his delegation's visit to France and the United Kingdom from May 9-17 was "highly fruitful," yielding major advancements in speaker-to-speaker dialogues, lawmaker exchanges, and strategic think tank engagements.

The cross-party delegation met directly with senior parliamentary figures in both countries, including the president of the French Senate and Hoyle, Han said, adding that some meetings with "sensitive figures" were kept private at the request of those involved.

Taiwan's Legislative Yuan is a unicameral legislature, while the British Parliament consists of the elected House of Commons and the appointed House of Lords members.

Former Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) had met with Hoyle during a visit to Britain in 2018, but the British lawmaker was deputy speaker of the House of Commons at that time. During that visit, Su also met with the speaker of the House of Lords.

On Sunday, Taiwan's representative to the U.K. Vincent Yao (姚金祥) said that the recent meeting between Hoyle and Han was especially significant because it took place immediately after the State Opening of Parliament on May 13, when U.K. lawmakers were occupied with debates over the King's Speech.

During the trip to the U.K. and France, the Taiwanese delegation also met with lawmakers from pro-Taiwan groups in both countries, several of whom pledged to visit Taiwan soon, with the first group expected as early as late May, according to Han.

Among the British lawmakers involved in the exchanges was Sarah Champion, co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Taiwan and chair of the House of Commons International Development Committee.

At a welcome banquet on May 14, Champion said she planned to lead a British delegation to Taiwan in autumn and stressed that democracies need to stand more united amid the current global challenges.

The Taiwanese delegation also exchanged views with strategic think tanks on issues such as Taiwan's arms procurement and the possible implications for Taiwan and Northeast Asia from any future meetings between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), Han said.

The 20-member delegation included lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, the main opposition Kuomintang, and the Taiwan People's Party. The lawmakers also met with Taiwanese businesspeople and expatriate groups in the U.K. and France and attended the annual meeting of the European Taiwan Chambers of Commerce.