German Minister of Education and Research Bettina Stark-Watzinger is scheduled to visit Taiwan next year, which would be the first time in 26 years that Taiwan is to host a visiting German ministerial-level official.
Stark-Watzinger’s planned visit to Taiwan was revealed on Monday by her Free Democratic Party (FDP) colleague Peter Heidt, who led the Bundestag’s Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid on a visit to Taiwan in October.
A visit to Taiwan by Stark-Watzinger next year would be significant in enabling Germany to advance its relationship with Taiwan, Heidt told a forum in Berlin.
Photo: Reuters
Digitalization, culture, academia and legal affairs are some areas in which Germany and Taiwan can expand bilateral exchanges, Heidt said at the forum titled “Democracies in Dialogue: Democratic Change and Human Rights in Taiwan.”
The last time a German minister visited Taiwan was then-German minister for economics Gunther Rexrodt in 1997.
Since German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his coalition, which includes the FDP, took office in December last year, relations between Taiwan and Germany have warmed, with Germany highlighting Taiwan as a “value partner,” and an important economic partner.
Minister of Culture Lee Yung-te (李永得) visited Germany in June, meeting with German Commissioner for Culture and the Media Claudia Roth at the Bundestag, while National Science and Technology Council Minister Wu Tsung-tsong (吳政忠) also visited Germany as part of his trip to Europe last month and met with Stark-Watzinger.
The trips by Lee and Wu were both the first such visits by Taiwanese ministers.
Meanwhile, Petra Sigmund, director-general for East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific at the German Foreign Office, and Franziska Brantner, German parliamentary state secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, both visited Taiwan this year.
The forum on Monday was held by the German-Taiwanese Association and was attended by National Human Rights Commission Chairwoman Chen Chu (陳菊), who is leading a delegation on a visit to France and Germany focusing on human rights issues.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary