A Taiwanese group visited Manson airport to assess its potential as an investment opportunity for the country’s government.

Four officials were given an aerial overview of the disused Thanet airfield in a helicopter at lunchtime on Wednesday.

They were met by Lib Dem Thanet South prospective parliamentary candidate Russ Timpson, the Thanet and East Kent Chamber chief executive David Foley and managers of the airport.

The delegation will now prepare a report to be submitted to potential investors in Taiwan, who could have $100bn of assets at their disposal as they merge the country’s four main public pension funds.

The site’s owners have not been involved in any discussions so far.

The meeting was organised by the Lib Dems Thanet North prospective parliamentary candidate George Cunningham.

The Taiwanese party was made up of three members of the Taipei Representative Office in the UK, including director of economic division Terry Lee, first secretary Angela Kuo and assistant Liang-I Yang.

Taiwan Trade Centre London director Donald Lu completed the group.

Russ Timpson said: “I’m glad we have made more investors aware of the great aviation potential of Manston.”

He plans to report back on the visit at a public meeting in the Marlowe Academy on Saturday.

Manston airport was closed in May after its Scottish owner Ann Gloag deemed it unviable, at a loss of nearly 150 jobs.