Pan-green camp legislators yesterday inaugurated the Taiwan-German Parliamentary Friendship Association at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, as officials from the two countries seek to boost their ties through bilateral trade, cooperation and exchanges.
German Institute Taipei Director-General Jorg Polster and Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials also participated in the event.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chang Hung-lu (張宏陸) is to serve as chairman of the association, comprising 41 lawmakers across party lines. Independent Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐), New Power Party Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智), and DPP legislators Fan Yun (范雲) and Lin Yi-chin (林宜瑾) are to serve as Chang’s deputies.
Photo: CNA
German Trade Office Taipei Executive Director Axel Limberg lauded the timing of the launch, as it came ahead of a German parliament delegation visit to Taiwan next month.
Limberg said trade and cooperation between the two countries have developed positively in the past few years, warranting the foundation of a parliamentary friendship association.
German officials have in the past few months spoken up for Taiwan at the WHO, the International Civil Aviation Organization and other UN organizations, he said.
The ties between the two countries are expected to grow closer over the coming years, Limberg added.
Polster said the two countries have a long history of cooperation and exchanges, and last year had a bilateral trade volume of US$20 billion.
Germany is Taiwan’s largest trading partner in Europe, and Taiwan is Germany’s fifth-largest trading partner in Asia, he said.
Chang said he has had a positive impression of German culture ever since helping organize a German Oktoberfest in New Taipei City.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said Taiwan is a major trade partner of Germany, and the two sides have since 2016 signed more than 10 bilateral agreements.
AGGRESSION: China’s latest intrusions set a new benchmark for its ‘gray zone’ tactics and possibly a new pattern that it would attempt to normalize, a researcher said China’s latest military exercises represent a new challenge to Taiwan’s legal authority to demarcate its borders in the Taiwan Strait, a defense expert said, adding that the fleets in the latest exercises were likely the most powerful the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) ever assembled. The PLA conducted military exercises from Sunday last week to 6am on Friday, which encompassed large swathes of the western Pacific, including the Taiwan Strait and waters off the Philippines and Guam, National Policy Foundation associate research fellow Chieh Chung (揭仲) said on Friday. The Ministry of National Defense said that it detected 70 warship and 162 aircraft
DOMESTIC MARKET: To protect the livelihoods of local egg farmers, the government adopted a new method for releasing imported eggs, the agriculture minister said More than 54 million imported eggs will be disposed, as their expiration date has passed, Minister of Agriculture Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) said yesterday. Chen made the remarks at a news conference in Taipei, explaining the flow of imported eggs following recent controversies regarding the products. The ministry introduced a special egg import program to address a nationwide egg shortage earlier this year. However, controversies have risen in recent weeks. These included an accusation that the government helped some egg importing companies over others, eggs imported from Brazil that had an incorrect expiration date, and egg shipments from Brazil that were found
PACIFIC OCEAN: Defense experts have warned that the ‘Shandong,’ China’s second largest aircraft carrier, poses a serious threat to eastern Taiwan’s defenses The drills conducted by the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong in the Western Pacific last week were more aimed at showcasing China’s military capabilities to the US rather than toward Taiwan, a Taiwanese defense expert said yesterday. Lin Yin-yu (林穎佑), an assistant professor at Tamkang University’s Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies, said the drills which involved dozens of warplanes sought to test China’s anti-access and area denial capabilities should the US and its allies attempt to interfere in a cross-strait conflict. Lin said that the latest Chinese drills coincided with a joint maritime exercise conducted by the US, South Korea
Thousands of bottles of Sriracha have been returned or destroyed after the discovery of excessive sulfur dioxide, a bleaching agent, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Tuesday. About 12,600 bottles totaling 9,991.8kg of the hot sauce imported from the US by Emporium Corp (河洛企業) were flagged at the border for containing illegal levels of sulfur dioxide, the FDA said in its regular border inspection announcement. Inspectors discovered 0.5g per kilogram of the common bleaching agent and preservative, higher than the 0.03g permitted, it said. As it is the first time within six months the product has been flagged, Sriracha products from
RSS