Taiwan calls on Germany to help maintain “regional order.”
A high-ranking parliamentary delegation of the neoliberal Free Democratic Party (PDF) of Germanyheaded by the president of the defense committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, and the vice-president of the party, Johannes Vogel, landed in taiwan for a four-day visit on Monday.
One day before the delegation landed in Taipei, China conducted military combat exercises in the air and sea space around Taiwan.
What did the officials say?
President Tsai announced that Taiwan will make military service compulsory from next year and called on Germany to help maintain “regional order.”
“This will strengthen our defense capabilities and demonstrate our determination to defend our homeland and safeguard democracy,” he said.
“We hope that Taiwan, Germany and other democratic partners will keep regional order and prosperity together,” he added.
German lawmakers have said his visit is a gesture of “solidarity” with Taiwan. The FDP is a partner in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government between his Social Democrats, the Greens and the FDP.
“Germany would like to send a message to China that military intimidation is not acceptable,” the FDP’s Vogel said, the Taipei Times reported.
Germany has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, which has had an independent government since 1949, but China considers it part of its territory.
However, Berlin is looking at its relationship with China and aiming to reduce its reliance on the Asian superpower.
Russia’s war in Ukraine has been a major wake-up call for Germany and democracies around the world, Strack-Zimmermann said.
Highlighting Germany’s dependence on Russia for natural resources before its invasion of Ukraine, Strack-Zimmermann warned that “it can only be to our disadvantage to become economically dependent on autocratic states.”
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China alludes to Germany’s past in World War II
China, which regards democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has been conducting regular military incursions into Taiwan’s airspace and seaspace for the past three years.
Chinese President Xi Jingping has repeatedly expressed anger at Western politicians who have visited Taipei.
On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin expressed his dissatisfaction by referring to Germany’s past in World War II.
“We want to point out that the root of the Taiwan problem arises precisely from the law of the jungle, the hegemony, colonialism and militarism that once proliferated in the world,” he said.
He went on to add that China was deeply affected by this. “Germany has a deep and tragic history lesson in that,” she said.
The German delegation is scheduled to visit the Hsinchu Science Park and the National Museum of Human Rights before leaving on Thursday.
The FDP’s Strack-Zimmermann has made it clear that Taiwan and Germany are now friends.
“We hope that Taiwan, Germany and other democratic partners will keep regional order and prosperity together,” he said.
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