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LONDON, England: Breaking with conventional British foreign policy and potentially angering the Chinese government, Tom Tugendhat, UK security minister, has met with Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s digital minister.

China considers Taiwan as its own territory and says that foreign diplomatic contact with the democratically governed island is interference in its own internal affairs.

Despite only having formal diplomatic relations with Beijing, the UK still maintains a de facto embassy in Taipei.

Previously sanctioned by Beijing for speaking out about alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tugendhat is not a full cabinet minister, but attends cabinet meetings as security minister.

Luke de Pulford, executive director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a group made up of lawmakers from democratic countries concerned about Beijing’s behaviour, said, “This is extremely welcome and sends the right message. The security minister should be congratulated for facing down pressure from other departments and setting a new precedent, which all ministers can now follow.”

A spokeswoman for the Home Office said, “We do not routinely comment on private ministerial meetings.”

Tang’s office has not responded to requests for comment.

Last week, Tang tweeted that she was on a rare high-level ministerial trip to the UK, and her office said she would visit government departments and meet a company specializing in low-earth orbit satellites.

The last Taiwanese minister to have visited the UK was Taiwan’s top trade negotiator, John Deng, who arrived last June.

In November 2022, the then-UK junior trade minister, Greg Hands, visited Taiwan and met President Tsai Ing-wen.

China denounced the visit.