Taiwan Representative in Germany Gu Ruisheng: Taiwan and Germany have no formal diplomatic relations but close substantive cooperation

(Central News Agency reporter Lin Shang-ying, Berlin, 5th) The German public administration professional media "Official Der Spiegel" conducted an exclusive interview with Taiwan Representative in Germany Gu Ruisheng, focusing on the substantive relationship between Taiwan and Germany without formal diplomatic relations. Gu Ruisheng said that Germany's "one-China policy" is different from China's "one-China principle" and leaves room for Taiwan-Germany cooperation. In addition to the economic aspect, Taiwan can also become a reliable partner for Germany in geopolitics.

Germany's "Behörden Spiegel" is a professional media that mainly reports on public administration and public services. It publishes about 101,000 copies every month. Its main readers include federal, state and local government decision-makers. The September issue of "Diplomatic Mirror" published an exclusive interview with Gu Ruisheng under the title "Shoulding the same diplomatic responsibilities as a real embassy". The content covered the political reality of both sides of the Taiwan Strait, Germany's one-China policy, semiconductors, Taiwan Strait security and Taiwan's international participation.

The report first introduced Taiwan's history from Dutch rule, the Qing Dynasty, and Japanese colonization, to the cross-strait partition in 1949 and democratization in the late 1980s. It also pointed out that although Taiwan and Germany did not have formal diplomatic relations, the economic and trade exchanges between the two sides had not been interrupted.

Gu Ruisheng explained in an exclusive interview that the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the People's Republic of China are "not affiliated with each other." This is not only in line with the current political reality, but also an objective fact. Although Taiwan's representative office in Germany cannot use the name "embassy", it actually shoulders the same diplomatic responsibilities as the embassy.

Talking about Germany's one-China policy, Gu Ruisheng explained that although Germany recognizes the government of the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate government of China, it does not recognize that Taiwan is part of China, which leaves room for Germany to establish substantive relations with Taiwan.

He emphasized that Beijing often tries to impose its political "red lines" on Germany, and the German federal government is often affected by China's stance on Taiwan, which puts certain restrictions on the work of Taiwan's representative in Germany.

The interview also discusses the role of Taiwan's semiconductor industry in the global technology supply chain and geopolitics. The report pointed out that more than 90% of the world’s advanced semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI) servers come from Taiwan.

Gu Ruisheng said that semiconductors and AI are key technologies in the 21st century. Taiwan not only occupies a key position in the global supply chain, but is also strategically located in the first island chain between China and the Pacific.

He pointed out that Taiwan and Germany are increasingly cooperating in the fields of semiconductors, artificial intelligence, scientific research, culture and civil society. Taiwan should not only be an economically attractive partner for Germany, but also become a reliable geopolitical cooperation partner, an innovation base, and an important role in maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific.

In the face of China's military threat, Gu Ruisheng said that the purpose of Taiwan's so-called "porcupine strategy" is not to proactively attack or provoke, but to let potential aggressors understand that attacking Taiwan will pay a high price to reduce the possibility of war.

He said that Taiwan has also learned lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war, including strengthening cyber defense, asymmetric combat capabilities, unmanned systems, civil defense and critical infrastructure protection, and hopes to expand cooperation with European partners in defense technology, drones, cyber security and civil defense.

Gu Ruisheng pointed out that Taiwan's defense budget in 2026 will almost double compared with 2022, and it plans to increase defense expenditure to 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030.

When it comes to international participation, Gu Ruisheng thanked Germany for supporting Taiwan, but said that Taiwan's participation in international activities and cooperation projects are still often hindered by political pressure from Beijing. He called on Germany not to view Taiwan as a geopolitical problem, but as a partner that can jointly solve international challenges. He said, "Taiwan is not the problem, but the solution."

"Diplomatic Mirror" interviews a foreign representative in Germany every month. In addition to introducing the country and bilateral relations, it also introduces a local dish. In this issue, Gu Ruisheng chose to introduce Taiwanese food culture to German readers through Guabao. (Editor: Tian Ruihua) 1150905