UK's New Prime Minister Andy Burnham Takes Office! President Lai Sends Congratulations; MOFA: Strengthening Taiwan-UK Partnership

Andy Burnham, leader of the UK Labour Party, has officially taken office as the United Kingdom's new Prime Minister. President Lai Qingde of Taiwan posted a congratulatory message on social media this morning (21st), emphasizing that Taiwan highly values the UK's long-standing and steadfast support for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) stated that it looks forward to continuing close collaboration with the new UK government, building upon the strong foundation already in place, to further deepen mutually beneficial exchanges and cooperation.

The UK's ruling Labour Party, which suffered a devastating defeat in local elections in early May, held a special meeting on the 17th. With no other candidates running, the party formally confirmed Burnham—only one month after his return to Parliament and a three-time elected Mayor of Greater Manchester, known as the 'King of the North'—as its new leader. On 20th, London time, Burnham visited Buckingham Palace to be received and appointed by King Charles III, officially becoming the UK's seventh Prime Minister in the past decade. He then returned to 10 Downing Street to deliver his inaugural speech, vowing to restore hope to a weary Britain and announcing plans to launch the largest political and economic system reforms in 40 years.

At 10:30 a.m. Taipei time on the 21st, President Lai Qingde posted on the official X account to congratulate Burnham on his appointment. Lai stated that Taiwan highly values the UK's consistent and firm support for maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and expressed hopes for further strengthening the solid partnership between Taiwan and the UK in areas such as trade, energy, and investment.

Later that morning, during the MOFA's regular press briefing, spokesperson Hsiao Kuang-wei said, 'We sincerely congratulate Andy Burnham on becoming the UK's new Prime Minister. We look forward to deepening the Taiwan-UK partnership with the new UK government based on our existing strong foundation.' He emphasized that the UK is an important like-minded partner for Taiwan, sharing core values such as freedom, democracy, the rule of law, and human rights.

Hsiao also noted that in recent years, cooperation between Taiwan and the UK in areas including economic and trade investment, technological innovation, security resilience, and people-to-people exchanges has steadily deepened, yielding fruitful results. MOFA will continue to work closely with the new UK government to further enhance mutually beneficial cooperation, safeguard a rules-based international order, and jointly promote peace, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.