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Germany will ‘bravely stand up’ for Taiwan: senior lawmaker
Delegation head tells Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen the German parliament will support Taipei in the face of military pressure from Beijing.
www.scmp.com
- Delegation head tells Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen the Bundestag will support Taipei in the face of military pressure from Beijing
- First visit by German parliamentary group since beginning of Covid-19 pandemic draws protests from mainland China
Klaus-Peter Willsch, chair of the German-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group, meets Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei on Monday. Photo: Office of the President, Taiwan
Germany will stand up for Taiwan if the self-ruled island faces military threats from Beijing, a senior German lawmaker told Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.
“We will bravely stand up to assist and support Taiwan if it faces such military threats,” said Klaus-Peter Willsch, chairman of the German-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group, in a meeting with Tsai at her office in Taipei on Monday.
He added that the German parliament’s support was reflected in various documents and discussions.
Willsch is leading a cross-party parliamentary delegation on a five-day visit to Taiwan that began on Sunday despite protests from Beijing.
Tsai told him that the island had been facing serious threats from Beijing, including a series of unprecedented live-fire military drills staged by the People’s Liberation Army around Taiwan in August.
Willsch said Ukrainians were also fighting for freedom and democracy following Russia’s invasion.
He said the German parliament valued bilateral cooperation and exchanges between Berlin and Taipei, especially in promoting ties with Taiwan.
“Taiwan is an important trading partner of Germany in Asia,” Willsch said, adding the island’s semiconductor industry had contributed greatly to global industry.
Tsai told Willsch that in addition to threatening the island, the PLA’s war games in August had affected regional stability.
The PLA held unprecedented war games encircling Taiwan in August in retaliation for a high-profile visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Beijing saw the trip by Pelosi, the highest-ranking American politician to travel to the island in 25 years, as a breach of its one-China principle.
Beijing considers the island a part of China and has never ruled out the use of force to take control of it. Most countries, including the United States, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state. Washington, however, opposes any attempt to take the island by force.
Willsch’s delegation is the first German parliamentary group to visit Taiwan since the Covid-19 pandemic began in 2019. Photo: Office of the President, Taiwan
Tsai said Germany, which holds the rotating presidency of the Group of 7, voiced its firm support for Taiwan and peace in the Taiwan Strait through the G7 foreign ministers’ joint statement during the PLA war games.
“For this, I offer my utmost thanks to Germany on behalf of the Taiwanese people,” she said.
She also thanked the German parliament for approving a resolution to support Taiwan’s participation as an observer in the World Health Assembly, the WHO’s decision-making body.
Willsch and five other German lawmakers – Katrin Budde, Till Steffen, Frank Schaeffler, Rainer Kraft and Caren Lay – were the first German parliamentary group to visit Taiwan since the Covid-19 pandemic began in late 2019.
The group is expected to meet Taiwanese Vice-President William Lai, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, legislative president You Si-kun and other senior officials and business leaders during their stay on the island.
On Sunday, Beijing’s foreign ministry protested against the visit, saying Taiwan is a part of Chinese territory and that Germany must respect the one-China principle by stopping any official contacts with the island.
Exclusive: German economy ministry reviews measures to curb China business
Germany's economy ministry is considering a raft of measures to make business with China less attractive as it seeks to reduce its dependency on Asia's economic superpower, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
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