Boris Johnson says Taiwan has stronger claim to statehood than Palestine, ignoring UK’s colonial legacy

Former British prime minister Boris Johnson has sparked outrage after claiming that Taiwan has a “far more robust” claim to statehood than Palestine, dismissing the UK’s historic responsibility for Palestinian statelessness and misrepresenting norms around international recognition of states.

Speaking at the Ketagalan Forum in Taipei, Johnson criticised the UK government’s plan to formally recognise the State of Palestine in September, arguing that Palestine lacks the institutional and territorial features necessary for statehood. “Taiwan has a recognised government… boundaries that they control… a proper democratic system – none of which you could say, with all due respect, about Palestine,” he insisted.

However, Johnson’s comments contradict the legal and diplomatic realities. As of August 2025, Palestine is recognised by 139 countries, including a majority of UN member states and the overwhelming majority of states in the Global South. By contrast, Taiwan is recognised by just 12 countries, with most of the international community upholding the One-China policy.

Read Who Really Killed the Two-State Solution?

In a column for the Daily Mail, Johnson accused UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer of capitulating to “Hamas propaganda” and described the move to recognise Palestinian statehood as “craven and pathetic.” He framed the recognition as a “reward” for the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attacks, alleging that the move would “puff Hamas” and undermine Israel’s war aims.

READ: Arab states welcome UK decision to recognise Palestine, urge global action on 2-state solution

Yet Johnson’s framing has been criticised for omitting the fact that Palestine’s right to statehood is affirmed in numerous UN resolutions, and that its pursuit of self-determination predates the formation of Hamas in 1987. It has further been pointed out that Israel’s borders remain undefined under international law, as claims to territory beyond the 1967 Green Line have been consistently rejected by the UN Security Council and ruled unlawful by the International Court of Justice.

Palestinians and legal scholars have pointed to Britain’s own colonial history as a direct cause of Palestinian dispossession. Despite being granted the Mandate for Palestine by the League of Nations in 1922 to support the establishment of independent institutions—just as it did in Iraq, Transjordan and elsewhere—Britain blocked Palestinian statehood and instead endorsed the creation of a “Jewish national home” through the Balfour Declaration.

Palestinians view the UK as bearing a direct historical responsibility for creating the conditions that have led to decades of occupation, apartheid, and now genocide in Gaza. Israel’s current war on Gaza has killed over 61,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and is the subject of an active genocide case before the International Court of Justice.

Johnson’s intervention comes amid growing global consensus in favour of Palestinian recognition, with the UK, France and Canada all committing to formal diplomatic recognition unless Israel ends its genocidal assault by September.

The former prime minister’s remarks have been widely condemned as an extension of Britain’s colonial amnesia and a refusal to reckon with its role in Palestinian dispossession. 

READ: Survey says 80% of Germans oppose Israel’s lethal military campaign in Gaza