WHILE Sir Keir Starmer’s government beats its chest over defending the territorial integrity of Ukraine, Britain’s approach to the Chinese island of Taiwan remains publicly equivocal and essentially deceitful.

Despite statements that the Labour government upholds the position that the legitimate government of China is that of the People’s Republic of China and that Taiwan is part of China, Defence Secretary John Healey recently suggested that Britain could go to war if China was forced into military action over Taiwan.

During a trip to Darwin, Australia, last month to witness the Talisman Sabre war games involving British, Australian and US forces, Healey was asked by the Telegraph about what Britain is doing to help countries like Taiwan to prepare for potential escalation from China, Healey said: “If we have to fight, as we have done in the past, Australia and Britain are nations that will fight together. We exercise together, and by exercising together and being more ready to fight, we deter better together.” (Telegraph, July 27 2025).

This commitment, hastily watered down, it should be said, suggests that Britain is moving even further away, in practice, from its recognition of the one-China principle to a de facto “one-China, one-Taiwan” position. This especially applies in relation to the increasingly dangerous military posture of the current government.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy accompanied Healey to Talisman Sabre, a three-week war game off Australia’s northern coast. The games began in 2005 as a biennial joint exercise between the US and Australia. This year, more than 35,000 military personnel from 19 nations, including Canada, Fiji, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Tonga and Britain, took part. Britain’s main contribution was HMS Prince of Wales, which leads Britain’s carrier strike group on a nine-month deployment across the Pacific.

Lammy has also been sending mixed messages. On his trip to Beijing late last year, the Foreign Secretary moderated his previously incendiary rhetoric over China and reiterated a commitment to Britain’s “longstanding position” on the Taiwan question, without actually articulating it.

This fundamental approach dates back to the first exchange of ambassadors between London and Beijing in 1972; previously, diplomatic relations were at a lower non-ambassadorial level. This upgrade resulted in a joint communique that clearly set out the basis for Sino-British relations, including “mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-interference in each other’s internal affairs.”

The then-foreign secretary, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, stated to the House of Commons that: “Both the government of the People’s Republic of China and Taipei maintain that Taiwan is a part of China. We held the view both at Cairo and at Potsdam that Taiwan should be restored to China. That view has not changed. We think that the Taiwan question is China’s internal affair to be settled by the Chinese people themselves.” (See my analysis of Lammy’s visit to Beijing, Don’t just blame it on Rio, Morning Star, December 4 2024).

While British Establishment media routinely scaremongers over China’s refusal to rule out a military solution over Taiwan in extreme circumstances, foreign powers consistently advocate military interference in this internal affair. Without the prospect of foreign backing, the separatists in Taipei would be forced at the very least to dial down cross-strait tensions and thereby nullify the false pretexts for foreign intervention.

On June 24 this year, Lammy addressed the House of Commons on the cross-departmental China audit, where he said: “Our approach to China must stay rooted both in international law and deterrence. We will continue to confront China’s dangerous and destabilising activity in the South China Sea, which I saw for myself when I visited the Philippines.

“And we will continue to work with our regional partners to support freedom of navigation and call out China’s abuses. We will double down on Aukus.

“We will not change our longstanding position on Taiwan, while sustaining unofficial but vibrant ties with Taiwan on trade, on education and innovation.”

What Lammy deliberately misses out is that Britain also has military ties with Taiwan, although this is dwarfed by US arms. Britain supplies military components to the island’s military, and Labour is continuing the trend set by previous Tory administrations.

During Rishi Sunak’s premiership, “Britain approved a sharp increase in exports of submarine parts and technology last year to Taiwan as it upgrades its naval forces, a move that could impact British ties with China.

“The value of licences granted by the British government to companies for the export of submarine-related components and technology to Taiwan totalled a record £167 million during the first nine months of last year, according to British government export licensing data. That is more than the previous six years combined, a Reuters analysis of the data showed.”

According to research by the Campaign Against the Arms Trade, British licences in the past few years have approved exports of components and technology for submarines, combat aircraft, combat ships and radar, which are of direct military significance.

In addition, there are many other examples of dual-use trade, such as the co-operation between the Taiwan Space Agency (Tasa) and Britain’s premier armaments firm BAE Systems.

Part of Tasa’s mission is: “Developing space technology for intelligence gathering, geographical surveillance, and communication security enhances Taiwan’s defence capabilities and regional stability. Simultaneously, it also enhances our country’s [sic] ability to counteract cyber attacks and other non-traditional security threats.”

In response to Lammy’s audit speech, Tory MP Sir Desmond Swayne asked him if “it was proper and lawful to send HMS Spey through the Taiwan strait in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, was it not, and can we see more like it?

Lammy’s response: “Yes, and yes.”

Swayne’s question related to the passage of the British warship HMS Spey through the Taiwan Strait on June 20. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said that while China respected other countries’ rights to sail through the Taiwan Strait, it also “firmly opposes any country using the name of freedom of navigation to provoke and threaten China’s sovereign security.”

Unfortunately, as Lammy’s answer demonstrates, we can expect further British involvement in Western attempts to undermine China’s preference for eventual peaceful reunification with the island and possibly provoke the very armed conflict that the majority of people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are keen to prevent.