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by Chang Kuo-tsai
At 1:57 pm on June 4, a gift from Japan arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. Japan Airlines flight JL809 was carrying a donation of 1.24 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
This moment struck me for its historical significance, and I couldn’t help saying out loud: “Good for you, Japan. Thank you.”
By contrast, Germany has chosen to dance to the tune of the CCP’s “one China” principle, despite the fact that Germans feel that the CCP is puffing their necks when they deal with political issues related to Taiwan.
It is not hard to understand why Japan has a better relationship with Taiwan than it does with Germany. The interpretation can be expressed in one word: warmth. Relevant differences in geographical distance between Taiwan and those countries are of little consequence, and emotive, ill-intentioned references to Japan’s imperial past are not helpful in this debate. Taiwanese do not suffer from a form of Stockholm syndrome, and operate under historical burdens as one-time citizens of the Japanese emperor.
In the aftermath of the Tohoku earthquake in Japan on March 11, 2011, Taiwan led the world in its generosity of donations, sending more than 20 billion yen (US$182.4 million at the current exchange rate), more than any other country in the world. This generous act on the part of the Taiwanese opened the door between our two countries.
It should be noted that the Taiwanese donated nearly NT$9 billion (US$324.9 million) to China after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, and all we received in return was the constant provocation from the PLA’s warships and fighter planes.
In the decade following the 2011 earthquake, the Japanese and their government—particularly when former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was at its helm—expressed gratitude to Taiwan and returned goodwill at every available turn.
When each country faced difficulty, the two leaders, Abe and President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), posted encouraging messages online, highlighting the friendship between the two countries.
How different is this picture from the relationship between Taiwan and Germany.
At the beginning of April last year, the COVID-19 pandemic was spreading across the West, and many countries were short of surgical masks and had few places to get them. Taiwan donated one million masks to Germany.
In addition to canceling a concert previously arranged to mark the occasion, a German government spokesperson thanked “another country” for its assistance, refusing to mention Taiwan by name.
With the world clamoring at the feet of the Goddess of Mercy that is Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC) during the current chip shortage, German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier wrote to Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hwa (王) and Vice Premier Shen Jung Chen (沈榮) in hopes of alleviating the German automaker’s chip problems. He asked the Taiwan government to pass a request to TSMC to increase the supply of chips.
However, when Taiwan tried to buy vaccines made by German drugmaker BioNTech at its German facility, the company said in January the deal would be delayed due to a “re-assessment of global vaccine supplies and adjustment of schedules”.
The mutual aid one might expect seemed to have faded away, like an untethered kite taken by the wind.
When the US Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Canadian Minister of Health and the Japanese Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare issued statements on May 25 in support of Taiwan’s inclusion in the World Health Assembly (WHA), where was a statement from a German representative? One could say that it was held hostage by the “One China” principle.
On the same day, representatives of the United States and Japan at the World Health Assembly called for more transparency in the investigation of the origins of COVID-19. Although this has nothing to do with the “one China” principle, Germany has been silent on the matter. For its own economic benefit, is Germany willing to sacrifice the search for truth?
There is a principle that when someone shows you kindness, you reciprocate. The Japanese understand this; It is not clear to me whether the Germans are doing this. It should come as no surprise that there is a gap in relations between Taiwan and Germany.
It’s too early to tell if this gap can be fixed. When Germany decided that it would maintain formality in the face of friendship, and refused to address Taiwan by name, the Taiwanese realized what was happening.
The ball is now in Germany’s court.
Chang Kuo-tsai is a retired associate professor at Hsinchu National University of Education.
Translated by Paul Cooper
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