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New representative to Germany urges cultural exchanges

The country's new representative to Germany, Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉), said yesterday one of the best ways to improve mutual understanding between Germany and Taiwan is to launch more academic exchange programs on both sides.

The academic-turned-diplomat, who lived in Germany for eight years and speaks fluent German, presented a report on the country's ties with Germany in a question-and-answer session in the legislature.

The most important thing in improving Taiwan's relations with Germany is to strengthen both sides' mutual understanding and friendship, said Shieh, who pledged to "grasp every opportunity to introduce Taiwan."

Asked by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Sung-pi (吳松柏) whether his pro-green camp political stance would affect his performance as representative to Germany, Shieh said that as a diplomat, he would stand neither for the blue camp nor for the green camp. Shieh said he represents the people of Taiwan.

"I will use the German language to explain Taiwan's issues from our perspective to the Germans," said Shieh, who told German reporters covering the March 26 rally that China's 700 missiles aimed at Taiwan pose a real threat to peace and stability in the region.

The German administration supports lifting the EU's arms embargo on China but its parliament opposes the move, Shieh said, adding that by arranging mutual visits on both sides' lawmakers would be one of his key "tasks" in the future. Shieh will leave for Germany on May 4.

The representative said he would solicit the support of the people and parliament of Germany to oppose lifting the EU weapons ban on China. Shieh said that if the EU decides to remove its arms embargo on China, he would urge Germany to sell defensive weapons to Taiwan.

Germany is Taiwan's largest trade partner in Europe. Taiwan's trade volume with Germany stands one fourth of the total volume of its trade with the EU. On the global scale, Germany is the six largest trade partner of Taiwan, preceded by the US, Japan, Hong Kong, China and South Korea, according to Shieh's report. Last year, bilateral trade volume between Taiwan and Germany reached US$10.3 billion, a 12.65 percent growth compared with the previous year's number, said the Ministry of Finance said. Taiwan is Germany's fourth largest trade partner in Asia, following China, Japan and South Korea.

"Germany is one of the countries that host important trade fairs. Over these years, Taiwanese companies have actively participated in these fairs," Shieh said.
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