China threatens and sharpens its teeth – the visit of US top politician Nancy Pelosi (82) showed what China dictator Xi Jinping (69) is willing to do to intimidate the West.
AND STILL: The Human Rights Committee of the Bundestag is planning a trip to Taiwan for the end of October.
Members of all six parliamentary groups are expected to take part in the Bundestag committee’s trip, with a total of eight parliamentarians being part of the delegation.
Two parliamentarians from the two largest factions, SPD and Union, are expected to take part, including Michael Brand (49, CDU). FDP politician Peter Heidt (57) and Green MP Boris Mijatovic (48) should also travel with them.
“We want to use this trip to get our own picture of the tense security situation in Taiwan,” Heidt told BILD. Taiwan has developed into a democracy with functioning, constitutional structures and shares a view of human rights and freedoms that is very similar to ours. “In this respect, Taiwan represents an explicit alternative to China’s authoritarian model of rule, which repeatedly tries to intimidate Taiwan with (military) threats,” says Heidt.
BACKGROUND: US top politician and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (82) traveled to Taiwan on Tuesday. Before her visit, China threatened a “major disaster” for the neighboring island. China fired missiles into Taiwanese sea territory on Thursday.
US top politician Nancy Pelosi (2nd from left) on her trip to Taiwan: President Tsai Ing-wen (2nd from right) awarded her the Order of Favorable Clouds, the country’s highest award
BUT: The trip by the members of the Bundestag is not a reaction to Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, but had been planned for some time, they say. It is scheduled to take place between October 22 and 30 and will include visits to Japan and Hong Kong in addition to Taiwan.
Possible protests by China against the trip are no reason for the CDU politician Michael Brand to refrain from doing so.
“The Chinese leadership must be careful not to become just a threat-spewing dragon on the international stage. A little more Asian discipline would be appropriate,” said the human rights expert.
Despite all the threatening gestures, the democracies of this world will not be abandoned – on the contrary: “If we take ourselves seriously, then we must finally take China seriously and reject the threat.”
China regards democratic Taiwan as part of its national territory and therefore strictly rejects official contacts from other countries to Taipei.
► There have also been trips by members of the Bundestag to Taiwan in the past. The Human Rights Committee last planned a visit in 2020, which was canceled due to Corona.
► There is currently an idea for the committee to travel to Taipei and the region, and a proposal to the President of the Bundestag is in progress. A program is currently still being discussed between the committee members, which was confirmed by Green MP Mijatovic in BILD.
Above all, Mijatovic emphasized the economic importance of the island state: “Taiwan is an important trading partner in the world, the Taiwan Strait is one of the main arteries of the global economy. Taiwan’s economy is currently one of the most dynamic in the world. The Human Rights Committee is interested in the democratic developments in the region and will not omit critical issues,” the Green MP told BILD.
China’s ambassador has already warned
Pelosi’s visit wasn’t the first trip by parliamentarians to Taiwan that caused a stir. Two years ago, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi responded with threats to a trip by Czech parliamentarian Milos Vystrcil.
Vystrcil will have to pay a “heavy price” for his “short-sighted behavior,” he said.
The Chinese ambassador to Germany, Wu Ken, said in an interview at the time how he would react to a trip by German parliamentarians to Taipei: “We reject any official contact with Taiwan.”
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