Taipei, Mar. 22, (dpa/GNA) – German Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger has spoken out in favour of further ministerial visits to Taiwan and defended her trip in the face of sharp criticism from China.
“An exchange of expertise and cooperation at the expert level is and should be the norm in the future, and I took this trip accordingly,” she said in Taipei as her visit concluded.
The two-day trip had been prepared for several months and by mutual agreement with the German Foreign Office and the Chancellery.
It was the first time a German minister had been to Taiwan in 26 years, sparking enthusiasm on the self-governing island.
China, which claims the island belongs to the People’s Republic, denounced it as an “outrageous act.” It lodged a protest with the German side and expressed its “strong disapproval.”
The German government was urged to “immediately stop interacting with and sending false signals to Taiwan’s separatist forces.”
China’s reaction was harsher than usual, said Taiwan’s representative in Berlin, Shieh Jhy-Wey, who is also currently in Taiwan. But not so sharp that one should be afraid, he added.
Beijing must get used to the fact that such visits and cooperation between Germany and Taiwan are nothing unusual, he said. “This is normal between free democratic states.”
GNA