《TAIPEI TIMES》 Berlin opposes change to ‘status quo’: lawmaker

TENSIONS: Peter Heidt said that the German delegation wants to obtain first-hand insight into how Taiwan responds to increasing Chinese military coercion

/ Staff writer, with CNA

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A visiting German lawmaker yesterday told President Tsai Ing-wen （蔡英文） that his nation is opposed to changing the cross-trait “status quo” by unilateral or non-peaceful means.

Peter Heidt of the Free Democratic Party is leading a six-member delegation from the Bundestag’s Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid to Taiwan.

Other members of the delegation are Heike Engelhardt and Derya Turk-Nachbaur of the Social Democratic Party, Michael Brand and Carsten Brodesser of the Christian Democratic Union, and Boris Mijatovic of the Greens.

Berlin firmly opposes “changing the cross-strait status quo via means other than peaceful ones and without mutual consent,” Heidt said during a meeting with Tsai in Taipei.

The delegation wants to obtain first-hand insight into how Taiwan is responding to increasing Chinese military coercion, as well as the role of human rights in Taipei’s response, he said.

Heidt also called for the abolition of capital punishment in Taiwan, describing the practice as inhumane “not only to death-row inmates, but to judges and executioners too.”

Taiwan last carried out an execution in 2020 and has 38 inmates on death row.

Tsai thanked Germany for overseeing the issuance of joint statements by the leaders and foreign ministers of the G7 in support of Taiwan.

Germany currently holds the G7’s rotating presidency.

Tsai said that the group’s public statements showed concern for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.

The delegation is the second from Germany to visit Taiwan this month, following a visit from Oct. 2 to 6 by a seven-member delegation led by German-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group chairman Klaus-Peter Willsch.

Earlier yesterday, Kenneth Wollack, chairman of the US-based National Endowment for Democracy, said that Taiwan’s democracy is a model for the world amid the rise of authoritarianism internationally.

Wollack made the remarks during a meeting with Tsai at the Presidential Office in Taipei.

Praising Taiwan’s commitment to advancing freedom, Wollack said that the nation also demonstrated that “in a world of strongmen, a strong woman could lead a democracy.”

“We recognize that this is a young democracy that emerged after nearly four decades of martial law. Despite continuing internal and external challenges, this is not a place where democracy is in peril,” he said.

Taiwan’s democracy is a tool for stability and prosperity that binds its citizens together, he added.

Wollack is leading a delegation of pro-democracy advocates to attend the 11th Global Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy to be held in Taipei from today to Thursday.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES