Any attempt or threat to change the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait by force is “unacceptable,” a visiting delegation of German Free Democratic Party (FDP) lawmakers from the Bundestag committees on defense, foreign affairs and human rights said yesterday in Taipei.
“The German Bundestag, the German government as well as European and all Western allies support the ‘one China’ policy, but we also believe that any change of the status quo in the Taiwan Strait can only be achieved by mutual agreement and any attempt to change the status quo by force, or any threat to do it by force, is unacceptable. That is the position of the international community, as laid out in the latest G7 statement, and it is our deep belief as well,” FDP deputy leader Johannes Vogel said when meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at the Presidential Office.
“As the Free Democratic Party Parliamentary Group, we take matters of freedom especially to heart. Our visit here is also a gesture of support and solidarity against any threat of military aggression,” he said.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
The 10-member delegation arrived on Monday for a four-day visit, the second group to visit from the Bundestag in three months. German Minister for Education and Research Bettina Stark-Watzinger, who is also of the FDP, is scheduled to visit Taiwan later this year, which would be the first official visit by a German Cabinet member in 26 years.
China on Sunday announced that it would conduct military exercises around Taiwan from 6am on Sunday to 6am on Monday. Fifty-seven People’s Liberation Army aircraft and four navy vessels were detected around Taiwan as of 6am on Monday, the Ministry of National Defense said, adding that 28 had crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait.
German Bundestag Defense Committee Chairwoman Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmerman said the world changed when Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year.
The invasion was a huge wake-up call not only for Europe and for Germany, but also for the whole world, she said.
Tsai said that exchanges between Taiwan and Germany in various fields have grown closer.
In October last year, a delegation of members of the German-Taiwan parliamentary friendship group and the committee on human rights and humanitarian aid visited Taiwan, highlighting cross-party support for Taiwan in the Bundestag, she said.
National Human Rights Commission Chairwoman Chen Chu (陳菊) reciprocated by leading a delegation to Germany, the highest-level meeting of human rights officials from both sides, she added.
The Bundestag last year also passed a resolution supporting Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Assembly as an observer. It was the first time that more than 100 Bundestag lawmakers signed a petition in favor of Taiwan, Tsai said.
When China conducted prolonged military exercises near the Taiwan Strait, Germany, which then held the G7 presidency, expressed the importance of maintaining peace across the Strait in a joint statement by G7 foreign ministers, she said.
“Starting next year, Taiwan’s mandatory military service will be extended to one year. This will bolster our defense capabilities, and demonstrate our determination to defend our homeland and safeguard democracy,” she added.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors