German Education Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger is due to visit Taiwan next week, her ministry said on Friday.
Her trip marks the first visit by a German Cabinet minister to Taiwan since 1997.
The visit has the potential to upset Beijing, which considers the self-ruled island to be a renegade province of China.
A spokesperson for the German Education Minister said talks during the trip would focus on improving cooperation between Berlin and Taipei on semiconductors.
“The minister will make a two-day visit to Taiwan,” a ministry spokesman told reporters.
“The aim of the visit is to bolster and expand cooperation with Taiwan on science, research and education,” he said, given Taiwan’s strengths in high-tech manufacturing.
However, Berlin sought to argue that Taiwan’s sovereignty was not the issue of the visit. The German Foreign Ministry said that it simultaneously upheld the so-called One China policy — namely Beijing’s insistence that all its trade partners do not hold formal diplomatic relations with Taipei — but said Germany also maintains “close and good ties with Taiwan.”
“Taiwan is a democracy and an important trade and investment partner for Germany which is why regular exchange and also mutual visits from ministers are completely normal,” the Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
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Beijing has repeatedly reacted with anger over foreign diplomatic exchanges with Taiwan.
In January, a delegation of German lawmakers visited Taiwan, prompting protest from China.
China also strongly condemned a visit to Taiwan by then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last year as a threat to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. Pelosi’s trip was the highest-level US visit to the island in 25 years.
In protest, Beijing then launched its largest war games in decades.
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fb/msh (AFP, Reuters)
Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/german-minister-to-visit-taiwan-first-such-trip-in-26-years/a-65024434?maca=en-rss-en-ger-1023-xml-atom