Taipei Representative Office in the United Kingdom
The Taipei Representative Office in the United Kingdom is a liaison office of Taiwan in the United Kingdom. It is not a fully-fledged diplomatic mission owing to the ongoing Taiwan dispute and the United Kingdom's One-China policy. However, it is the highest-level representation of the Taiwan authority in the United Kingdom. It manages cultural, economic and political cooperation between the UK and Taiwan, as well as offering consular services. Its counterpart body in Taiwan is the British Office Taipei.
History
The Qing dynasty established an embassy to the United Kingdom, which was inherited by Republic of China. After the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949, for a short time the UK continued to recognise the government of Republic of China as the sole legitimate government of China, before switching recognition to the People's Republic of China in 1950, while maintaining the British consulate in Tamsui, through which the United Kingdom continued to carry out consular and trade-related activities. Taiwan's office in London was first established in September 1963 as the Free Chinese Centre. The British consulate was closed after the UK and the PRC upgraded relations to ambassadorial level in March 1972, and in June 1980 the building and land of the consulate in Tamsui were returned to the Taiwanese government. In 1992, the Free Chinese Centre was revised to become the Taipei Representative Office in the United Kingdom.Organizational structure
- Consular Division
- Culture Division
- Economic Division
- Education Division
- Financial Division
- Overseas Compatriots Division
- Press Division
- Science and Technology Division
Representatives
- Eugene Chien
- Tzen Wen-hua
- Tien Hung-mao
- Edgar Lin
- Katharine Chang
- Shen Lyu-shun
- Liu Chih-kung
- David Lin
- Kelly Hsieh