Next Focal Point: Taiwan?
In the run-up to the event, we could not have guessed the acute relevance of our panel discussion "Next hot spot: Taiwan?" on April 11, 2023. Until the day before the event, the People's Republic of China
conducted a large-scale three-day military exercise in the Taiwan Strait, which China officially dubbed a warning to separatist forces. The exercise involved an incursion into Taiwan's air surveillance zone. This was preceded by an American visit by Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.
Therefore, we were all the more grateful for the opportunity to ask some exciting questions about Taiwan and its Chinese and international relations at our event. Four experts provided us with
answers: Prof. Dr. Jhy-Wey Shieh, the current diplomatic representative of Taiwan in Germany, Asia expert Dr. phil. Gudrun Wacker, "German Institute for International Security Affairs" and delegate of the EU in the Expert and Eminent Persons Group of the ASEAN Regional Forum, Dr. Holger Becker, SPD Member of the Bundestag and Vice Chairman of the German-Taiwanese Society, and Reinhard Bütikofer, Green MEP and Chairman of the Delegation for Relations with the People's Republic of China.
The event was organized by us, the student council of political science and social studies together with the university group for foreign and security policy of the "Bundesverband für Sicherheitspolitik an Hochschulen". Moderated by the students Pia Hermann and Anton Gries.
The questions of how the Ukraine war is assessed in Taiwan and what effect the current tensions
between the USA and China have on Taiwan were discussed intensively and informatively. The global economic importance of Taiwan was also emphasized several times in the course of this. The view of President Macron on the conflict between China and Taiwan, which had been expressed shortly before in a French newspaper, was criticized. According to which it was necessary for Europe to take a position on Taiwan independently of the USA and China. Another topic of discussion was the continuing
threats to Taiwan by China, the strategic ambiguity of the U.S. in the conflict and a too weak attitude of Europe towards China.
We were very pleased that the event was attended by so many people and met with such great
approval. We would like to thank all our guests for their time and the exciting discussions!
You can find the recording of the event here (the video is only available in German and unfortunately the voice contributions of Mr. Bütikofer are hardly or not at all audible due to technical difficulties):