A German parliamentary delegation would visit Taiwan in the first week of October, German lawmaker Holger Becker on Monday told visiting Democratic Progressive Party legislators Fan Yun (范雲) and Lin I-chin (林宜瑾) at the Bundestag in Berlin.
Asked by Fan whether he is worried about possible reprisals from Beijing, such as banning him and his family from entering China, Becker said he is more interested in visiting Taiwan, as “now is the time for democracies to stand together.”
Fan and Lin also met with German officials to exchange views on digital education and governance.
Photo courtesy of Fan Yun
Investing in digital infrastructure and protecting equal rights to education are key parts of Becker’s political platform, Fan said, adding that he is concerned about the harm caused by online hate speech to democracy and individuals.
German news agency DPA separately reported that the Bundestag’s Committee on Human Rights would also send a delegation of eight lawmakers from six political parties to Taiwan at the end of October.
The Formosa Club, a group of Taiwan-friendly lawmakers in Europe, issued a statement on Monday urging China to cease its military intimidation of Taiwan.
The group condemned China for undermining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, adding that China must not “unilaterally change the status quo by force against the will of the Taiwanese people.”
Lawmakers have the duty and right to travel internationally to support freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law, which should not be used as an excuse for provocation, the statement said.
Seventy-nine lawmakers from 28 legislative bodies, including those in Europe and Canada, as well as the European Parliament, vowed to “stand by and support Taiwan” through “regular visits, joint dialogues or cooperation,” it said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs thanked the group for speaking out for Taiwan so quickly and encouraged democratic partners to visit the nation to show their support.
The ministry reiterated that like-minded nations around the globe should stand together against China’s irresponsible actions, as “being overlenient would send a wrong message to Beijing and endanger peace across the Taiwan Strait and around the world.”
Separately, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabrielius Landsbergis in an opinion piece published by the UK’s Telegraph newspaper on Monday voiced his support for Taiwan and condemned Chinese aggression.
He called on the world to safeguard global security instead of considering smaller democratic countries “expendable” to appease authoritarian countries in an attempt to avoid conflict.
“Appeasement does not lead to peace,” he said, adding that “the free world cannot and will not allow Taiwan to become a second Ukraine.”
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
COORDINATION, ASSURANCE: Separately, representatives reintroduced a bill that asks the state department to review guidelines on how the US engages with Taiwan US senators on Tuesday introduced the Taiwan travel and tourism coordination act, which they said would bolster bilateral travel and cooperation. The bill, proposed by US senators Marsha Blackburn and Brian Schatz, seeks to establish “robust security screenings for those traveling to the US from Asia, open new markets for American industry, and strengthen the economic partnership between the US and Taiwan,” they said in a statement. “Travel and tourism play a crucial role in a nation’s economic security,” but Taiwan faces “pressure and coercion from the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]” in this sector, the statement said. As Taiwan is a “vital trading
RSS