TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A petition calling on Germany to establish diplomatic relations with Taiwan has received 53,000 signatures, exceeding the threshold to require the German government to formally discuss the proposition.

The petition, created by a man identified as Michael Kreuzberg, is titled "Foreign Policy - Establishment of diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan)" and was originally posted on May 31 of this year. On Sept. 11, the petition was opened to signatures from the public and included a "Taiwan" nationality option.

The petition requests that the German Bundestag call on the federal government to establish full diplomatic relations with Taiwan. As the petition was written just days before the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre on June 4, Kreuzberg reminds readers that China's current communist regime, which enjoys full diplomatic recognition and membership at the United Nations, crushed "thousands of peacefully demonstrating people" with troops and tanks.

Hong Kong's Apple Daily newspaper reported on the petition on Sunday (Sept. 15), and it has since spread rapidly on social media. As of Friday (Oct. 4), over 53,554 people have signed the petition, five days ahead of the Oct. 9 deadline and above the 50,000-signature threshold required for the Bundestag to add it to its agenda for discussion.



The Reichstag, which holds the German Bundestag in Berlin. (Wikimedia Commons photo)

Kreuzberg observes that China disregards human rights, locks up entire ethnic groups in "reeducation camps," builds a "worldwide monitoring and censorship machine," brutally disregards the concerns of its Southeast Asian neighbors, and flaunts international law. The petition expresses regret that none of this prevents the German government from recognizing and trading with China.

Taiwan alternative

Kreuzberg then writes that since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, there has been a "second China, the Republic of China, or Taiwan." The petition notes that both states were members of the UN until 1972, when China forced Taiwan to be excluded from the intergovernmental organization.

However, the petitioner says that "There is no basis for this in international law." Kreuzberg claims that the Cairo Declaration in 1943, in which the allies promised China the return of Taiwan after the war, "was not binding under international law."

In contrast, Kreuzberg notes that the UN recognized two German states for decades and, to this day, treats the two Korean nations equally. The petition points out that Taiwan has undergone many reforms since 1987 and, unlike Communist China, is a democratic country "by our standards, in which the people themselves have self-determination."

Kreuzberg then laments, "Yet we do not recognize this country. He says he is unable to understand why, "in view of the massive human rights violations committed by the People's Republic of China," Germany continues to recognize it.

The petition closes by saying "We, therefore, call for diplomatic recognition of the Republic of China." Those wishing to sign the petition can do so by filling out the online form, after which they should receive a confirmation email.