German Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas on Wednesday last week voiced his opposition to China’s threat of using military force, making him the highest-ranking foreign official to speak out against Beijing’s Taiwan policy in several years.
Wong Ming-hsien (翁明賢), a professor at Tamkang University’s Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies, on Saturday said that Maas’ remarks are part of German efforts to counter China’s rise as the EU becomes increasingly aware of the problems resulting from Beijing’s growing influence in the world.
Maas made the remarks at the German Bundestag, after Germany-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group Chairman Klaus-Peter Willsch, a Christian Democratic Union lawmaker, asked him about Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) Jan. 2 speech.
Photo: AFP
In an address in Beijing on the 40th anniversary of the “Message to Compatriots in Taiwan,” Xi said that he would not renounce the use of force against foreign forces and pro-Taiwanese independence “separatists” that interfere with China’s goal of peaceful unification as he announced plans to explore a Taiwanese version of the “one country, two systems” model.
The German government would make clear, as it has in the past, that it disagrees with Beijing’s threat of military force against Taiwan, Maas said.
China has at least once persuaded individual EU members to block proposals about Taiwan that have come before the Council of the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council, he said, adding that he hoped the EU would adopt majority rule, instead of requiring unanimity, and share Germany’s stance on issues related to Taiwan.
Germany has always believed in resolving cross-strait issues by peaceful means, German Minister for European Affairs Michael Roth said in a written response to the session.
Cross-strait dialogues should take place based on mutual respect, and the “status quo” should not be changed unless both sides agree, he added.
Commenting on Maas’ remarks, Wong said that China, in its rise, has been responsible for many problems worldwide, such as Beijing’s crackdowns on human rights in China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region and Tibet, as well as alleged attempts to gather intelligence from other governments through Huawei Technologies Co.
Beijing’s “Made in China 2025” plan and Germany’s “Industry 4.0” plan are mutually exclusive, and although China is Germany’s third-biggest market, the German government would not allow their trading partnership to affect its foreign policies, he said.
Germany’s attempts to counter China’s rise can be in part attributed to efforts by the nation’s representative offices abroad, he said.
As Germany is a federal republic, the Taiwanese government should consider promoting Taiwan through enhanced civic exchanges with local governments in Germany, he added.
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Restarting the No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant would take up to 18 months, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said today. Kuo was answering questions during a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Economics Committee, where legislators are considering amendments to the Renewable Energy Development Act (再生能源發展條) amid concerns about the consequences of the Pingtung County reactor’s decommissioning scheduled for May 17. Its decommissioning is to mark the end of Taiwan’s nuclear power production. However, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have proposed an amendment to the Nuclear Reactor Facilities Regulation Act (核子反應器設施管制法) that would extend the life of existing
RSS