Ulster Unionist peer Lord Rogan calls for closer co-operation between the UK and Taiwan ahead of Foreign Secretary's trip to China

China held large-scale military exercises surrounding Taiwan and its outlying islands on Monday in what it called a warning against Taiwan independence.

China’s Defence Ministry said the drills were a response to Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te’s refusal to concede to Beijing’s demands that Taiwan acknowledge itself as a part of the People’s Republic of China under the rule of the Communist Party.

Taiwan’s Defence Ministry called the drills a provocation and said its forces were prepared to respond.

Eastern Theatre Command spokesperson Navy Senior Captain Li Xi said the navy, army air force and missile corps were mobilised for the drills.

“This is a major warning to those who back Taiwan independence and a signifier of our determination to safeguard our national sovereignty,” he said in a statement on the service’s public media channel.

Taiwan was a Japanese colony before being unified with China at the end of World War II.

It split away in 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists fled to the island as Mao Zedong’s Communists swept to power on the mainland.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy will visit China on Friday and Saturday, Beijing’s foreign affairs ministry has confirmed.

Downing Street said the Foreign Secretary’s visit was “necessary, pragmatic engagement with China in the UK’s interest”.

Speaking in the House of Lord on Thursday, Lord Rogan said: “The Chinese President’s decision to authorise military drills around Taiwan in the week our Foreign Secretary is due to arrive in China underlines not only his contempt for the Taiwanese population but also the British people.

“The Prime Minister visited Taiwan as an Opposition frontbench spokesman in 2016 and 2018 and will certainly have a deep understanding of the issues challenging Taiwan.”

He asked the Deputy Leader of the House of Lords, Lord Collins: “If and when does the Prime Minister or, indeed, the Foreign Secretary intend to visit Taiwan in their new roles to have dialogue?”

Responding, Lord Collins said: “I have also visited Taiwan. The United Kingdom has no diplomatic relations with them, but a strong, unofficial relationship based on deep and growing ties in a wide range of areas underpinned by democratic values.

“We will continue to engage with Taiwan on economic, trade, educational and cultural ties.

“This relationship delivers significant benefits to both the United Kingdom and Taiwan, and has featured a wide range of exchanges and visits, for example, on environmental, judicial and educational issues.

“We are going to continue to establish our relationship on that basis.”

Mr Lai took office in May, continuing the eight-year rule of the Democratic Progressive Party that rejects China’s demand that it recognise Taiwan as a part of China.

China routinely states that Taiwan’s independence is a “dead end” and that annexation by Beijing is a historical inevitability.