Former UK PM Johnson rejects China's bullying of Taiwan, calls for deeper ties with West

TAIPEI (Reuters) -Former British prime minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday that Taiwan did not deserve to be bullied by China and urged the West to build economic and political relations with Taipei in the face of Beijing's campaign against the democratic island.

Johnson is the third former British prime minister to visit Taiwan, after Liz Truss in 2023 and Margaret Thatcher in the 1990s, and his trip comes at a time when Britain and China are seeking to further stabilise ties as Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to visit Beijing later this year.

Britain, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan but the two governments have close economic and culture exchanges.

Beijing has in recent years ramped up military and diplomatic pressure campaigns against Taiwan, including daily military activities near the island, to assert territorial claims the government in Taipei strongly rejects.

"In very difficult and intense times, this is the moment for all western countries to build economic and political relations with Taiwan, not to tiptoe away from Taiwan at the pressure from any other country," Johnson told Taiwan President Lai Ching-te in the presidential office in Taipei.

"There's absolutely no case for the current Chinese bullying of Taiwan. This is a free, peaceful society. It does not deserve to be intimidated in this way. There's no point in it and I hope it stops as soon as possible," Johnson said in video footage by Lai's office.

China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Beijing has previously condemned visits by British lawmakers to Taiwan for what it calls interference in China's internal affairs.

Johnson was invited to deliver a speech at a security forum by Taipei-based think tank, the Prospect Foundation, which was also attended by Lai earlier on Tuesday.

At the forum, Lai vowed to build a "democratic supply chain" with allies by deepening economic cooperation and said he would boost Taiwan's defence spending to more than 3% of its GDP next year.

"I'm confident that if democracies can join hands in creating more robust, more resilient global democratic supply chains, we can spur even more economic prosperity and further consolidate our democracy," Lai said.

A British Royal Navy patrol vessel sailed through the sensitive Taiwan Strait in June.

(Reporting By Yimou Lee, Angie Teo and Yi-chin Lee; additional reporting by Ryan Woo; Editing by Michael Perry)