With transparent institutions, free elections and a free market economy, Taiwan positions itself as an island of democracy off the coast of an authoritarian People's Republic of China (PRC).

Germany is one of Taiwan's most important European partners, with a robust trade relationship and strong bonds between companies and institutions. But Berlin does not have any formal diplomatic relations with Taipei.

However, after a petition started by a German pensioner received more than 50,000 signatures in only a few weeks, the German government will now have to explain why it doesn't recognize Taiwan in a hearing set for Monday, December 9.

Read more: Can Taiwan counter China's 'diplomatic aggression'?

Michael Kreuzberg is a retired German marine biologist from the eastern city of Rostock. After he visited Taiwan in 2018, he was "inspired by the people there fighting for their democracy."

Kreuzberg said he lived under a dictatorship in the former communist East Germany, and feels empathy for Taiwan.

"I know what these dictatorships are like. I have been angry for a long time that Taiwan is not recognized by the West, and meanwhile all Western countries curry favor with a regime like that in the People's Republic of China, which cannot be considered a democracy," Kreuzberg told DW.

China and Taiwan: Best enemies? Recapturing vs. liberation After the end of WWII, the Communist Party of China (CPC) under Mao Zedong pursued a fierce battle against his archrival Chiang Kai-shek, chief of the Kuomintang (KMT) party. Chiang lost and took refuge in the island of Taiwan. For some time after that, Taiwan was the center of propaganda from both sides. The CPC wanted to "liberate" Taiwan, while Kuomintang wanted to "recapture the mainland."

China and Taiwan: Best enemies? Letters to 'compatriots' In the 1950s, the CPC published four "Messages to Chinese compatriots" in Taiwan, which are considered the basis of Beijing's Taiwan policy. In these texts, Beijing warned Taiwan of collaborating with US "imperialists." Military confrontation, particularly artillery attacks, also continued during this time.

China and Taiwan: Best enemies? Beijing replaces Taipei in UN bodies In 1971, the United Nations General Assembly declared that the People's Republic of China was the sole lawful representative of the country. With this decision, the Republic of China (ROC)/Taiwan was removed from all UN bodies. The frustration of ROC's foreign minister, Chow Shu-kai (right), and his ambassador Liu Chieh is easy to see in this picture.

China and Taiwan: Best enemies? New Taiwan policy The fifth and last "message" from Beijing to Taiwan was published on January 1, 1979. The mainland, under the leadership of the reformist Deng Xiaoping ended military operations, announced the development of bilateral ties and promised peaceful reunification. However, Beijing's right to represent China internationally was not to be questioned.

China and Taiwan: Best enemies? 'One China' policy The new orientation of China's Taiwan policy took place as Washington and Beijing got closer. On January 1, 1979, the US and China resumed diplomatic relations, with Washington under President Jimmy Carter recognizing Beijing as the sole legitimate government of the whole of China. The US embassy in Taiwan was remodeled into an institute for culture.

China and Taiwan: Best enemies? 'One China, two systems' Even before meeting US President Carter, Deng Xiaoping had introduced the principle of "one country, two systems," which allowed Taiwan to maintain its social systems even after reunification. However, Taiwan's President Chiang Ching-Kuo did not immediately fall for it. On the contrary, in 1987 he formulated the principle of "one China for the better system."

China and Taiwan: Best enemies? The independence movement In 1986, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Taiwan's first opposition party, was founded. At a meeting in 1991, the DPP declared a clause for Taiwan's independence, which stipulated that Taiwan was sovereign and not a part of China.

China and Taiwan: Best enemies? 'Consensus of 1992' In unofficial Hong Kong talks in 1992, representatives of Taipei and Beijing reached a political agreement on the nature of their relationship. Both parties agreed that there was only one China. However, they had different views on what "One China" meant. A year later, the chief negotiators Wang (left) and Koo met in Singapore.

China and Taiwan: Best enemies? Bilateral relations In an interview with DW in 1995, the first democratically elected President of Taiwan and the KMT leader Lee Teng-hui said that all relations beyond the straits of Taiwan would be "defined as relations between states; at the very least, as a relationship of a special kind between states." His formulation was very close to being a declaration of independence.

China and Taiwan: Best enemies? 'A state on every side' The DPP won the presidential election for the first time in 2000 with Chen Shui-bian, a Taiwanese-born politician who had no connections to mainland China, calling for "a state on each side." It meant that Taiwan should have nothing to do with China anymore. In 2005, Beijing reacted with the Anti-Secession Law, which allowed the use of military force in the event that Taiwan declared independence.

China and Taiwan: Best enemies? 'One China, different interpretations' After losing the elections in 2000, the KMT adopted a changed formulation of the "Consensus of 1992" in the party's statute, which called for "one China, different interpretations." That is why the 1992 Consensus is still debated in Taiwan. The reason: the negotiators of 1992 did not have an official position.

China and Taiwan: Best enemies? CPC meets KMT The mainland adopted the "Consensus of 1992" as a political basis for creating a relationship with Taiwan. In the first summit between the two sides since the communists came to power in China, Hu Jintao (right) and Lian Zhan endorsed the "Consensus of 1992" and the "One China" principle.

China and Taiwan: Best enemies? 'The direction is correct' After KMT's Ma Ying-Jeou won the 2008 presidential elections, both sides continued to come closer. In an interview with DW in 2009, Ma said: "The straits of Taiwan should be a place of peace and security. We have come a lot closer to this goal. Basically our direction is correct."

China and Taiwan: Best enemies? Quo vadis? After the elections in 2016, when President Tsai Ing-wen came to power, the independence movement gained a lot of wind. Tsai disputed the existence of the 1992 consensus and described the "attempt of China to interfere in the political and social development of Taiwan" as the "biggest challenge." Author: Fang Wan (mg)



To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre in June 2019, Kreuzberg decided to make a statement for "small, courageous Taiwan."

He filed a petition with the German Parliament, the Bundestag, calling for Germany to establish formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

According to German law, everyone has the right to submit a petition with requests or complaints to the parliamentary petition committee, which then decides whether to publish the petition for the public to consider supporting. If a petition is published, and then receives over 50,000 signatures, it is discussed publicly during one of several annual meetings of the petition committee.

In Kreuzberg's case, the committee rejected his request and said it would not publish the petition on its website.

According to a copy of the rejection letter seen by DW, the German Foreign Ministry advised the committee not to publish Kreuzberg's petition because it risked contradicting Germany's "one China policy" and doing "damage to international relations or intercultural dialogue" with China.

Read more: Why is Germany silent on China's human rights abuses?

From grassroots to geopolitics

Not to be deterred, Kreuzberg appealed the decision, arguing that there were already China-critical essays on the government website. He turned to the center-left Green party for help.

A few weeks later, Kreuzberg received notice that the petition committee would publish the Taiwan petition.

"I told a few friends about it who signed it, and I thought if I can get a few hundred signatures, then it would be a success," said Kreuzberg. "I never counted on actually reaching the minimum level of votes for a hearing," he said.

But within two weeks, the petition received over 30,000 signatures. Two weeks later, it cracked the 50,000 mark — enough to require the petition committee to publicly debate Kreuzberg's request for diplomatic recognition of Taiwan during its next session on December 9.

Watch video 26:01 Share Chou Hsi-wei on Conflict Zone Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3MDh4 Chou Hsi-wei on Conflict Zone

Getting the German government to publicly discuss diplomatic recognition of Taiwan was an unexpected victory for Kreuzberg, and it caught the attention of the head of Taipei's Representative Office in Berlin, Jhy-Wey Shieh.

Read more: Is Trump's commitment to 'one China' policy a thaw in bilateral ties?

Shieh said it was remarkable that a German citizen, "out of his own desire for justice" decided to stand up for Taiwan, which is an "established democracy that is being threatened."

"It wasn't our initiative. It was started by a former citizen of East Germany who simply did not want to accept that Taiwan is not recognized as a democracy, while a Chinese dictatorship enjoys diplomatic recognition only because it is a major economic power," Shieh told DW.

Although it is difficult to determine where all of the signatures came from, Shieh said that news of the petition spread quickly on social media, and among Taiwanese living in Germany and Taiwan. English and Chinese versions of the petition also quickly found their way online.

According to the petition committee, anyone, regardless of nationality, can support or submit a petition to the Bundestag from anywhere in the world.

Why isn't Taiwan recognized?

Holders of this Taiwanese passport can travel freely to countries that don't recognize Taiwan diplomatically

Today, only 15 small countries, including the Vatican, have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Germany has never had formal diplomatic ties with the Republic of China (the official name of Taiwan).

Beijing has always insisted that Taiwan and mainland China are part of the same country, of which only the Communist Party of China is the sole legitimate ruler.

In practice, this meant that for countries to have diplomatic ties with Beijing, they would have to forego relations with Taipei.

Read more: Opinion: Taiwan, China share common heritage, checkered history

Taiwan advocates like Michael Kreuzberg view this as governments putting business interests ahead of recognizing human rights.

"The Republic of China is without doubt a sovereign state," Kreuzberg wrote in his appeal to the German Parliament. "The people freely practice democracy, in contrast to the PRC, which is a one-party dictatorship."

Germany, like the European Union and the United States, exercises "unofficial" relations with Taiwan. The German Institute Taipei serves as Berlin's representative office, and they say bilateral relations are "good and intensive."

According to the German Foreign Ministry, "Taiwan is Germany's fifth most important trading partner in Asia. Germany is Taiwan's most important trading partner in the European Union, and German companies are active in virtually all sectors in Taiwan."

Watch video 02:26 Share Taiwan says China is interfering Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/3TkGP Taiwan accuses China of election interference

China's leverage

According to German government figures, China is currently Germany's most important trading partner, and bilateral trade amounted to nearly €200 billion ($220.85 billion) in 2018. The Chinese market is critical for German car manufacturers; BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen sold around 5.5 million new vehicles in 2018 and earned up to 50% of their global profits in China.

Any country deciding to recognize an independent Taiwan would violate Beijing's "one China principle," and most likely incur retribution that could have far-reaching economic consequences, like being shut out of the vast Chinese market.

Communist Party officials in Beijing see an independent Taiwan as a threat to China's "territorial integrity."

Read more: China's Xi vows unity in face of separatist challenges

In January, Chinese President Xi Jinping drew international concern by delivering a speech on Taiwan, in which he said: "Unification between the two sides of the [Taiwan] strait is the great trend of history."

"We make no promise to abandon the use of force, and retain the option of taking all necessary measures," Xi said at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, adding that these "measures" could be used against "external forces."

Shieh said that with these kinds of statements, Beijing is harming its own interests by threatening Taiwan and is earning the island international sympathy and solidarity.

Read more: Taipei scrambles jets as China sails carrier through Taiwan Strait

A symbolic statement for Taiwan.

During Monday's hearing in Berlin, petitioner Kreuzberg will present his arguments to the petition committee, along with representatives of the German Foreign Ministry.

After the debate, the petition committee will give a recommendation to the Bundestag, which can then choose to accept or reject what the petition is asking for.

Both Shieh and Kreuzberg admit that there is no chance that Germany will formally recognize Taiwan, but they hope the petition will force the German government to publicly defend its position.

Read more: Are Hong Kong protests a warning for Taiwan?

"I am pragmatic, Germany will not formally recognize Taiwan, the pressure from the business lobby is still much too strong," said Kreuzberg. "But the problem has arrived in the Bundestag. And I hope that at least a few policymakers will support it."