A delegation of German Free Democratic Party (FDP) lawmakers led by German Bundestag Committee on Defense Chairwoman Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann and party deputy chair Johannes Vogel arrived in Taiwan yesterday.
The visit is a gesture of German “solidarity” with Taiwan, they said.
Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫堃) hosted a banquet to welcome the delegation.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei Photojournalist Society
“As a model of democracy against authoritarianism, Taiwan draws admiration from the world” because of its mature and stable democratic system,” Vogel said.
The FDP is a junior partner in Germany’s coalition government.
Vogel said that Taiwan’s peaceful and smooth transition to democracy was a “quite rare” event worthy of admiration.
The situation between Taiwan and China is complicated, and the FDP and the EU must support the “one China” policy, but the party is nonetheless supportive of Taiwan, he said.
Germany would like to send China a message that military intimidation is not acceptable, he said, adding that the trip is to “demonstrate Germany’s massive support for Taiwan.”
You said he was touched when the FDP in 2021 deleted mention of the “one China” policy from its election platform in an effort to support Taiwan.
Germany and the EU should engage with Taiwan more, he said.
You said he hopes that allies support Taiwan’s resistance against aggression and bullying, safeguard global peace and stability, and work to encourage China’s democratization.
German Minister of Education and Research Bettina Stark-Watzinger, also of the FDP, plans to visit Taipei in the spring, Agence France-Presse reported.
It would be the first visit by a member of the German Cabinet in 26 years.
The delegation is to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and other senior officials, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
The members are scheduled to visit the Hsinchu Science Park and the National Human Rights Museum before departing on Thursday.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday criticized the visit.
“The root of the Taiwan problem is precisely that of the law of the jungle — hegemonism, colonialism, militarism and nationalism. China suffered deeply from these behaviors throughout history,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs Wang Wenbin (汪文斌) told a news conference.
“Germany once experienced a profound and painful historical lesson in this regard,” he added.
Separately, a parliamentary delegation from Lithuania arrived in Taiwan yesterday morning.
Lithuanian Parliamentary Group for Relations with Taiwan vice chair Dovile Sakaliene on Sunday said on Facebook that Lithuania and Taiwan would discuss cybersecurity and geopolitical security challenges.
The invasion of Ukraine showed that the threats Lithuania and Taiwan face are real, and the two countries should “learn, unite, and act now,” she said.
Additional reporting by Lu Yi-hsuan
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central