TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Giving Taiwan 40 mentions in its latest defense report about the Indo-Pacific shows how highly the United Kingdom judges the Chinese threat, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Wednesday (Oct. 25).

The House of Commons Defense Committee published its report, titled “UK Defence and the Indo-Pacific,” on Tuesday (Oct. 24). In a summary, the committee said China intended to confront Taiwan in the coming years, either by direct military action or by “gray zone” attacks.

At present, the U.K. military presence in the region is “limited” and its strategy “unclear,” the report said. It called on the government to achieve a higher level of readiness in case of a Taiwan Strait conflict.

MOFA noted the committee document also mentioned Taiwan’s importance as a semiconductor provider and as an area where 48% of the world’s container traffic passed through during the first half of 2022. A conflict or a blockade would severely affect the global and the U.K. economy, MOFA agreed.

The ministry praised both the British government for agreeing on describing China under the Chinese Communist Party as “an epoch-defining and systemic challenge.”