The Russia-Ukraine war is a warning to democracies that they should not have unrealistic expectations about authoritarian nations, a visiting German parliament member said in Taipei on Tuesday.
German Bundestag’s Parliamentary Oversight Panel deputy head and member of the Foreign Affairs Committee Roderich Kiesewetter on Tuesday met with Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), where they discussed issues such as countering the global expansion of authoritarian rule, ties between Taiwan and Europe, and technical collaboration between Germany and Taiwan on semiconductors.
Kiesewetter stressed the importance of building coalitions and cooperation among democratic partners and emphasized mutual trust as being the key to such cooperation.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Lin expressed his gratitude to Kiesewetter for his support for Taiwan, saying that Germany and other like-minded nations should work together to address the major challenges faced by the world.
While China has engaged in hybrid warfare in the Indo-Pacific region as well as in the rest of the world, the international community must understand that cross-strait peace and stability are the key to regional security and the stability of the global supply chain, he said.
Taiwan and Germany have close academic and business collaborations, and these are set to strengthen as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co is to invest in new plants in Dresden, Lin said.
Kiesewetter endorsed the significance of Taiwan’s investment in Germany’s semiconductor industry in facilitating the bilateral exchange of talent and technology, as well as enhancing the global democratic supply chain.
Meanwhile, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Remus Chen (陳立國) in a luncheon with Kiesewetter on Monday thanked the German Bundestag for approving a friendly resolution on the cross-strait issue, which called on the German government to highlight the importance of cross-strait peace and stability.
Chen said he expects Kiesewetter to exert his influence and continue to build up the community of Taiwan supporters in Germany and strengthen bilateral ties.
Kiesewetter also appealed to democratic partners to collectively deter China from invading Taiwan by force, saying that bilateral official visits would be welcomed to deepen cooperation between Taiwan and Germany in different fields.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday in a news release said it expects Taiwan and Germany to deepen their bilateral relationship based on existing collaboration and collectively defend peace in the Indo-Pacific region and around the world.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
TRAVEL CONVENIENCE: The program is to shorten wait times while passing through airport checks and would start for Taiwanese from January next year Japan is to launch a new program to expedite entry procedures for Taiwanese starting from January next year. The Japanese government is planning to introduce new rules to shorten the time it takes foreign travelers to pass through immigration, thereby attracting more tourists to visit, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported yesterday. An airport preclearance program would be implemented to allow foreign travelers to finish some screenings at their departure airport’s terminals and undergo simple confirmation procedures upon arrival, it said. The program would initially be applied to travelers from Taiwan from January next year and could be extended to travelers from elsewhere depending
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to