China Condemns German Minister’s Taiwan Visit as ‘Egregious Act’
- Accuses government in Berlin of meddling in internal affairs
- Trip is first German ministerial visit in almost three decades
Bettina Stark-Watzinger visits a nanotechnology lab at National Taiwan University in Tipeh, Taiwan, on March 21.
Photographer: Jörg Ratzsch/dpa/picture alliance/Getty Images
China reacted furiously to a visit to Taiwan by a German cabinet minister aimed at expanding technology cooperation, calling it an “egregious act” and accusing the government in Berlin of meddling in China’s domestic affairs.
“We call on Germany to abide by the ‘one China’ principle, immediately stop interacting with and sending wrong signals to Taiwan independence and separatist forces, and to stop using the Taiwan question as a pretext to interfere in China’s internal affairs,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Tuesday at a regular press briefing in Beijing.