Germany has been trying to maintain a balance between its ties with Taiwan and its economic links to China, outgoing German Institute Taipei Director-General Thomas Prinz has said.
Speaking in an interview with the Central News Agency, Prinz said that Germany has good relations with Taiwan based on their shared values of freedom and democracy.
The countries also enjoy strong bilateral trade, which totals about 18 billion euros (US$21.37 billion) annually, he said.
Photo: CNA
There are potential opportunities for cooperation between Germany and Taiwan in the fields of renewable energy, 5G technologies, semiconductors, biotechnology and education, Prinz said.
However, Germany also has strong economic ties to China, which requires a balancing act between the two sides, he said.
“On the one side, we want to have good relations with Taiwan,” Prinz said. “It’s a like-minded country, which we want to support. On the other side, we are also economically very much interlinked with China, and somehow we have to balance that.”
Germany is interested in keeping the “status quo” across the Taiwan Strait, and is against the use of violence and threats by any side to change the “status quo,” he said.
He expressed the worry that Beijing’s almost daily sorties near Taiwan, such as the intrusion of Chinese military planes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, could lead to an unplanned conflict.
“I think on the Taiwan side, the government is acting very responsibly,” he said. “They try everything to avoid conflict, but at the same time, they have to make clear where the red lines are. So, I do not see an imminent conflict, but certainly danger is there.”
Asked about Germany’s plan to send a warship to the South China Sea later this year, Prinz said it would be the first such action by his country in East Asia.
“It’s a sign; it’s a symbol,” he said. “About the South China Sea, the position of the [German] government is very clear to everybody. For us, that’s international waters and we support freedom of navigation.”
Prinz, who has been serving as Germany’s de facto ambassador to Taiwan since 2018, said that he would miss Taiwan’s cycling paths when he moves to Nepal later this month.
“I have been doing about 12,000km on my bike here in Taiwan during the last three years, so I’ve been practically everywhere on this island,” he said.
Prinz said his favorite routes are the East Rift Valley, where he said the views are magnificent, and the coastal highway on the east coast, where cyclists can ride along the oceanfront.
He also loves riding on mountain roads in the greater Taipei area at weekends, exploring places such as Lugu (鹿谷), Pingsi (平溪) and Wufenshan (五分山), he said.
Jorg Polster, head of Economic Affairs and Globalization at the German embassy in India, is to succeed Prinz.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS