Germany has been trying to maintain a balance between its ties with Taiwan and its economic links to China, outgoing German Institute Taipei Director-General Thomas Prinz has said.
Speaking in an interview with the Central News Agency, Prinz said that Germany has good relations with Taiwan based on their shared values of freedom and democracy.
The countries also enjoy strong bilateral trade, which totals about 18 billion euros (US$21.37 billion) annually, he said.
Photo: CNA
There are potential opportunities for cooperation between Germany and Taiwan in the fields of renewable energy, 5G technologies, semiconductors, biotechnology and education, Prinz said.
However, Germany also has strong economic ties to China, which requires a balancing act between the two sides, he said.
“On the one side, we want to have good relations with Taiwan,” Prinz said. “It’s a like-minded country, which we want to support. On the other side, we are also economically very much interlinked with China, and somehow we have to balance that.”
Germany is interested in keeping the “status quo” across the Taiwan Strait, and is against the use of violence and threats by any side to change the “status quo,” he said.
He expressed the worry that Beijing’s almost daily sorties near Taiwan, such as the intrusion of Chinese military planes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, could lead to an unplanned conflict.
“I think on the Taiwan side, the government is acting very responsibly,” he said. “They try everything to avoid conflict, but at the same time, they have to make clear where the red lines are. So, I do not see an imminent conflict, but certainly danger is there.”
Asked about Germany’s plan to send a warship to the South China Sea later this year, Prinz said it would be the first such action by his country in East Asia.
“It’s a sign; it’s a symbol,” he said. “About the South China Sea, the position of the [German] government is very clear to everybody. For us, that’s international waters and we support freedom of navigation.”
Prinz, who has been serving as Germany’s de facto ambassador to Taiwan since 2018, said that he would miss Taiwan’s cycling paths when he moves to Nepal later this month.
“I have been doing about 12,000km on my bike here in Taiwan during the last three years, so I’ve been practically everywhere on this island,” he said.
Prinz said his favorite routes are the East Rift Valley, where he said the views are magnificent, and the coastal highway on the east coast, where cyclists can ride along the oceanfront.
He also loves riding on mountain roads in the greater Taipei area at weekends, exploring places such as Lugu (鹿谷), Pingsi (平溪) and Wufenshan (五分山), he said.
Jorg Polster, head of Economic Affairs and Globalization at the German embassy in India, is to succeed Prinz.
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