German parliament delegation arrive in a visit to Taiwan
In a move that will be considered as provoking to China, a delegation of German parliamentarians of the German Bundestag, arrived in Taiwan early Monday morning for a four-day visit.
The German parliament delegation, headed by Marie-Agnes Schreck-Zimmermann, chair of the Bundestag defense committee, arrived at a time when Taiwan’s defense ministry said 57 Chinese warplanes had been detected within its airspace in the past 24 hours.
Taiwanese defense ministry said, 28 planes crossed the central Taiwan Strait, in addition to four ships of the Chinese military’s navy were spotted around Taiwan in the 24 hours until 6:00 am local time (2200 pm Sunday GMT).
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry welcomed the German delegation, which includes 10 lawmakers from the Free Democratic Party, and since last October, Germany has sent three parliamentary delegations to Taiwan to show its solidarity with Taipei.
The German delegation will meet Taiwan President Tsai Ing-won, Prime Minister Su Tseng-chang, and the Secretary-General of the National Security Council Wellington Koo, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, Parliament Speaker Yu Si-kun and other senior officials.
According to Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry, the delegation will also meet members of the military, opposition party leaders, human rights activists and others.
On Monday, Taiwan also received five parliamentarians from Lithuania for a six-day official visit, led by Lawrinas Kasionas, Chairman of the National Security and Defense Committee of the Lithuanian parliament.
On Sunday, Beijing announced that it had conducted joint standby patrols and combat exercises around Taiwan on the same day to counter collusion between outside powers and “Taiwan independence” forces, according to a statement by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
Taiwan has had an independent government since 1949, but China regards the self-governing democracy as part of its territory.
