While German Economic Affairs Minister Katherina Reiche is visiting Beijing, a delegation from the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament is in Taiwan.
The Berlin-Taipei Parliamentary Friendship Group, a cross-party association of MPs that promotes international exchange, has traveled there to "strengthen economic and cultural cooperation with one of the region's most important democratic partners," the Bundestag said in a statement.
Till Steffen of the Green Party is leading the five-member delegation, which also includes lawmakers Klaus-Peter Willsch and Markus Reichel from Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), as well as Rainer Kraft from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and Mandy Eissing from the Left Party.The group of German lawmakers visiting Taiwan is led by Till Steffen of the Green PartyImage: Präsidialamt Taiwan
The nine-day trip has sparked criticism from Beijing. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said China has always opposed any form of official exchanges between its diplomatic partners and Taiwan.
Beijing sees self-ruled Taiwan as a breakaway province that one day will be "reunited" with the mainland.
