Second delegation in a month
German parliamentarians arrive in Taiwan
10/23/2022 8:17 am
Six members of the Bundestag are likely to annoy the Chinese leadership: Human rights experts are meeting with the President and several ministers in Taiwan. It’s the second visit from Germany in a month – at a difficult time.
Despite resistance from Beijing, members of the Human Rights Committee of the German Bundestag have arrived in Taiwan for a visit. In view of the growing tensions with China, the MPs want to send a sign of support for the democratic island republic with their visit until Wednesday.
The second visit by a Bundestag delegation this month is likely to cause renewed irritation in Beijing, which rejects such official contacts from other countries to Taiwan. The communist leadership regards Taiwan only as part of the People’s Republic and threatens to conquer it.
The group, led by FDP politician Peter Heidt, was received with high rank in Taipei. A meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen is scheduled for Monday. The six MPs from the SPD, Greens and Union will also meet Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, Justice Minister Tsai Ching-hsiang and Digital Minister Audrey Tang. The visit is about “that we want to work closely together” and for the “independence of Taiwan”, said the FDP politician Heidt before leaving.
China writes opposition to independence in constitution
The deputies do not want to be intimidated by China’s resistance, but want to use the visit to send a signal that they are on Taiwan’s side. Tensions had recently intensified. In response to the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in early August, China launched large-scale maneuvers. Since then, the People’s Liberation Army has kept up the pressure with increased deployments of warships and aircraft near Taiwan.
At the end of the Chinese Communist Party Congress, which takes place every five years in Beijing on Saturday, the 2,300 delegates voted to include resistance to Taiwan independence in the party constitution for the first time. So far, the charter has only called for “reunification” with Taiwan. The resolution calls for “vigorous resistance and containment of Taiwan’s independence” and the promotion of the “one country, two systems” principle, as in Hong Kong. However, the former British crown colony has been under Chinese sovereignty since it was returned to China as a special administrative region in 1997.
Taiwan, on the other hand, has long considered itself an independent country. Beijing’s claim to power over Taiwan dates back to the founding history of the People’s Republic of China. After being defeated by the communists in the civil war, the national Chinese Kuomintang government fled to Taiwan with its troops, while Mao Tsetung proclaimed the People’s Republic in Beijing in 1949. Taiwan, which today has 23 million inhabitants, has always been governed independently and has never belonged to the People’s Republic.