Taiwan-Germany relations make history on March 21! At the invitation of Na-tional Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Minister Tsung-Tsong Wu, German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) Federal Minister of Education and Research Bettina Stark-Watzinger will lead a delegation to Taiwan from March 21 to 22. This marks the first ministry-level German official to visit Taiwan since 1997.
On March 21 at the National Science and Technology Council, Minister Wu and Federal Minister Stark-Watzinger jointly witnessed Taiwan and Germany sign their first Scientific and Technological Cooperation Arrangement (STA). During the signing ceremony, the two ministers expressed that the STA would allow Germany and Taiwan to carry out more science and technology cooperation in the future.
Visits between Taiwanese and German officials and parliamentarians have been more frequent recently, which demonstrates an increasing enthusiasm for conducting exchanges. Last November, Minister Wu met with Federal Minister Stark-Watzinger during an official visit to Germany. Minister Wu invited Federal Minister Stark-Watzinger to visit Taiwan during their meeting, which was the first between the two heads in charge of overseeing Taiwan and Germany’s respective national-level scientific research.
After meeting briefly this morning, Minister Wu and Federal Minister Stark-Watzinger jointly witnessed Taipei Representative Office in the Federal Republic of Germany Representative Jhy-wey Shieh and German Institute Taipei Director Gen-eral Jörg Polster sign the Germany-Taiwan Scientific and Technological Coopera-tion Arrangement. This new arrangement will facilitate further cooperation and exchange in science and technology between Taiwan and Germany while focusing on cooperation in various sectors such as semiconductors, hydrogen, batteries, and AI.
During remarks made at the signing ceremony, Minister Wu stated that Tai-wan’s official exchanges have helped solve some of the world’s toughest issues, which includes recently partnering with the international community to fight the once-in-a-generation COVID-19 pandemic. To face the world’s latest wave of chal-lenges, Minister Wu noted that Taiwan will continue to establish partnerships with like-minded democracies. In addition, Minister Wu stated that the signing of the Germany-Taiwan Scientific and Technological Cooperation Arrangement demon-strates that Taiwan is committed to turning intention into action. Minister Wu also said that Taiwan and Germany will expand cooperation in many important areas such as lithium batteries, hydrogen, AI, semiconductors, and talent training in the near future. “Minister Stark-Watzinger’s presence in Taiwan is particularly mov-ing,” Minister Wu said, “Her actions prove that S&T cooperation has lifted Taiwan-Germany relations to new heights. We hope to take advantage of this opportunity to embark on a brand-new chapter of Taiwan-Germany relations.”
During Federal Minister Stark-Watzinger’s remarks, she said that Taiwan is a highly esteemed collaborative partner of Germany. Federal Minister Stark-Watzinger also said that global challenges must be addressed globally. For many years, Taiwan and Germany have cooperated and conducted exchanges in science and technology, Federal Minister Stark-Watzinger said, and both countries also value democracy, transparency, openness, and freedom. Federal Minister Stark-Watzinger noted that Germany deeply appreciates its strong partnership with Taiwan and that the two countries have plenty of room to cooperate based on their many complementary strengths in S&T. Federal Minister Stark-Watzinger ex-pressed that she hopes the newly signed cooperation arrangement helps pave the way for even broader cooperation in the future and creates added value for Tai-wan and Germany in terms of economic innovation and high-tech research.
Germany hasn’t sent a ministry-level official to Taiwan since German Federal Minister of Economics Gunter Rexrodt visited in 1997. Federal Minister Stark-Watzinger is Germany’s first ministry-level official to visit Taiwan in 26 years. Fed-eral Minister Stark-Watzinger’s 14-person delegation will visit National Taiwan University on the afternoon of March 21. After visiting the Siemens training center in Nangang Vocational High School on the morning of March 22, Minister Stark-Watzinger will meet with Ministry of Education Minister Pan Wen-chung and ex-change views on issues regarding Chinese language education and academic semi-conductor institutions. After heading to Hsinchu and visiting the National Applied Research Laboratories Taiwan Semiconductor Research Institute on the afternoon of March 22, Federal Minister Stark-Watzinger will go to the airport and board a flight back to Germany.
Media Contact:
Kai-Shih Wang
Section Chief
Department of International Cooperation and Science Education
National Science and Technology Council
Tel: +886-2-27377810
kswang @nstc.gov.tw
