Have Your Say: Is Edinburgh right to ditch Taiwan deal after pressure from China?

Guards raise Taiwan's national flag on Democracy Boulevard in Taipei (Picture: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images) | AFP via Getty Images

In June, Edinburgh City Council had been due to consider entering into an official, five-year friendship agreement with the Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung, when the proposal was hastily withdrawn from the meeting’s agenda.

It then emerged that China’s representative in Edinburgh, Zhang Biao, had warned councillors that entering a formal friendship with Taiwan, which China views as part of its territory, would “hurt the feeling of the Chinese people and bring about serious consequences to our bilateral relations, which we do not want to see”.

The council has now decided to scrap the idea of a formal agreement, although Edinburgh’s Lord Provost will write to Kaohsiung’s mayor to set out “our intention to sustain collaboration and strengthen partnership between Edinburgh and Kaohsiung”.

The case for signing Taiwan deal

In contrast to Communist China, Taiwan is a democracy. It is also a geopolitically important source of computer chips, making about half of the world’s total.

So it is an important trading partner in its own right and fostering better relations could be beneficial to the Scottish economy, although not on the same scale as China itself.

Cammy Day, the city’s Labour council leader, said he regretted the authority was “not in a position” to sign a memorandum of understanding with Kaohsiung, adding: “I think it’s been disappointing, some of the behaviours of some of the city’s colleagues... there’s no reason why Taiwan shouldn’t be one of our friends across the world”.

International diplomacy is also a factor. Beijing regards Taiwan as a breakaway province, an idea dating back to the civil war between the Nationalists and Communists after the Second World War. After being defeated on the mainland, the Nationalists fled to Taiwan, creating a de facto independent state, if not one recognised by many countries today.

Concern has been growing that China is planning to invade. Earlier this year, the People’s Liberation Army said that a major military exercise that encircled Taiwan was designed to test its ability to “seize power” in Taiwan.

Therefore, displays of friendship and support for Taiwan from democratic countries could act as a disincentive to any plan by Beijing to attack. Conversely, giving in to pressure from China may encourage the belief that an invasion would not be met by the same degree of Western sanctions as imposed on Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine because of China’s economic muscle.

The case against signing Taiwan deal

Offending China to the point that it imposes significant sanctions would unquestionably damage our economy.

Among the institutions who expressed concern about the Kaohsiung friendship agreement were Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, Edinburgh Airport and the University of Edinburgh. They feared that Chinese sanctions could lead to reductions in trade, tourism and student numbers.

There were fears that Beijing might block all visas for Chinese students wanting to come to Edinburgh or even Scotland as a whole – and they provide much-needed fees for Scotland’s financially troubled universities.

Roddy Smith, the chief executive of Essential Edinburgh, the company behind the city’s Business Improvement District, said before the deal was ditched that it was “simply far too big a risk to take”. “The impact on our city economy would run into millions of pounds and potentially adversely impact many businesses and institutions in the city and beyond,” he added.

One councillor, speaking anonymously, said the whole affair had been an “appalling waste of time and money”, adding pithily: “All because Cammy wanted to act like a poundshop Henry Kissinger and cluelessly wade in to an international incident.”