Representative Prof. Shieh Jhy-Wey giving presentation to the students

Seventeen senior secondary students and two teachers from the John F. Kennedy School Berlin visited the Taiwanese Representative Office in Berlin on April 1, 2022 as part of their politics and geography class. The teachers set up the visit with the assistance of the Education Division there.

Professor Shieh Jhy-Wey, Taiwan’s Representative to Germany, gave the students and their teachers a presentation on Taiwan’s history, and political and economic significance. He also talked about current events, especially the conflict in Ukraine, and the global reaction of support.

Prof. Shieh pointed out unique historical and geopolitical features of Taiwan. Taiwan, as a free, democratic island, in a time of increasingly powerful autocracies in many parts of the world, and he talked about how it affects world political and economic matters in the twentieth century in the west as well as in Asia.  

The students, who were all soon going to graduate, were very interested in the predictions about what the current situation means for the conflict between Taiwan and China. A special topic of interest was the intersection with economics, namely the importance of the semiconductor industry within the larger geo-political picture.

The students’ questions were mostly asking details of why and how the conflict between Taiwan and China exists, how it manifests itself, and the implications. One student was curious about who lived on the island of Taiwan before 1949 – since it had not historically been part of the ROC or the PRC. Some participants also wanted to know how Germany and other countries can help prevent war.