Amid cooling ties with Beijing, EU delegations land in Taiwan to talk defence, security and supply chains
- Germany and Lithuania send parliamentary groups to the island to meet President Tsai Ing-wen and senior officials
- Delegation from Germany’s Free Democratic Party will visit Human Rights Museum; Vilnius group expected to discuss hybrid security threat
They were both expected to meet President Tsai Ing-wen and other senior officials – including those from security, defence, foreign, cross-strait and digital affairs departments – during their time in Taiwan, the ministry said.
02:23
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The German delegation from the Free Democratic Party was headed by the chair of the Bundestag defence committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, and the party’s deputy chair, Johannes Vogel, marking the first visit by a German parliamentary group this year and the third in four months, the island’s foreign ministry said.
Also included were Renata Alt, head of the Bundestag committee on human rights and humanitarian aid, and Ulrich Lechte, a spokesperson for the FDP parliamentary group.
The group will visit the island’s Human Rights Museum and will exchange views with local think tank experts on cybersecurity and persistent military threats from Beijing, as well as other issues of mutual concern, a legislative source said on Monday.
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The group met Taiwan’s legislature speaker Yu Shyi-kun and Premier Su Tseng-chang on Monday, the source said.
Yu thanked the FDP for supporting Taiwan’s democracy and the rights of its people to decide their own fate, according to the island’s semi-official Central News Agency.
In May 2021, the party removed the one-China policy from its campaign platform ahead of September’s general elections, affirmed Taiwan’s democracy and freedom, and encouraged Germany and the EU to expand their engagements with Taiwan.
Meanwhile, the visiting Lithuanian group is headed by Laurynas Kasciunas, chair of the national security and defence committee, and Dovile Sakaliene, vice-chair of Lithuanian parliamentary relations group with the Republic of China (Taiwan), Taiwan’s foreign ministry said.
It said the delegation included lawmakers Audronius Azubalis, Eugenijus Sabutis, Edita Rudeliene, Ieva Pakarklyte and their aides.
In addition to meeting senior officials – including heads of the defence ministry and the Mainland Affairs Council, which charts cross-strait policy – the group would talk with local defence and security think tanks to learn about the latest cross-strait situation, the ministry said.
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It said among the major topics of interest to the group were discussions about the hybrid security threat now faced by Taiwan and Europe and Taiwan’s all-out-defence programme.
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Taiwan has rapidly grown closer to Lithuania after the two sides agreed to swap representative offices last year in a move that infuriated Beijing, which in turn retaliated by reviewing ties with Vilnius and imposing trade sanctions on the Baltic state.
The latest visits by the German and Lithuanian groups are expected to draw angry protests from Beijing, which claims sovereignty over the self-ruled island and has repeatedly warned other countries against having official contact with Taipei.
