After China’s protest against Federal Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger’s visit to Taiwan, the head of the Munich Security Conference, Christoph Heusgen, warned against escalating the conflict with Beijing. “It’s good that Taiwan is being supported,” Heusgen told the editorial network Germany (RND/Friday). However, Western countries such as Germany and the USA would have to “be careful not to overdo it”.
The diplomat explained that it was right to continue to work together economically and politically “below the level of recognition as a state” with the democratic island state. “We just have to be careful not to go beyond what has been normal up until now, what is the status quo.”
China faces economic problems
The current situation in China is also explosive for President Xi Jinping, above all because of the economic difficulties in the People’s Republic, stressed Heusgen. Dictators would tend to distract from such internal problems through foreign policy actions: “Taiwan’s takeover would make Xi Jinping popular in China. That’s why you have to be careful not to give Xi a reason to take military action against Taiwan,” warned the MSC chief. The reaction to the visit to Taiwan by then US Parliament President Nancy Pelosi showed this in the summer. “So I thought it was a bit courageous that a German ministerial visit was taking place for the first time in 26 years,” he added, referring to Stark-Watzinger’s trip.
First ministerial trip to Taiwan in 26 years
Heusgen emphasized that the People’s Republic of China is generally regarded as the representative of China as a whole in international law. “There is a difference between Taiwan and Ukraine under international law,” he said, comparing the Russian invasion of Ukraine with a possible Chinese attack on Taiwan. “My plea would therefore always be: maintain the status quo – not less, but also not necessarily more than we have done with Taiwan in the past.”
Stark-Watzinger’s two-day trip this week was the first German ministerial visit to Taiwan in 26 years. China, from whose point of view the island belongs to the People’s Republic, had lodged a protest with the German side and expressed its “sharp disapproval”.
