Berlin: The first trip to the island by a senior federal official in 26 years will be made by Germany's minister of education in the coming days. Berlin claims that despite the fact that China will probably criticise the visit, it does not portend a significant change in the People's Republic's policy.

Bettina Stark-Watzinger, minister of education and research, will visit Taipei for two days next week, her ministry announced on Friday. The trip will be focused on fostering collaboration on computer chips and green technologies, the spokesperson added.

Although Berlin "pushed back" on the request and would only agree to sit-downs with lower-level officials, the Financial Times reported, citing numerous people familiar with the negotiations,

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Taiwan had suggested that Stark-Watzinger meet with Foreign Minister Joseph Wu while she was on the island. According to a second source cited by Reuters, the minister also declined to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen "at the German government's request," which is attempting to "avoid irritating China too much."

Germany's One-China policy requires that any delegation sent to Taiwan be limited to specialised ministers whose responsibilities have nothing to do with sovereignty, with the chancellor, interior, foreign, or defence ministers being the only exceptions. German federal ministers last visited the island in 1997, but lawmakers have visited frequently since then, including this year.

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Although the losing side in the Chinese Civil War fled to the island and set up its own government in 1949, Taiwan has been de facto self-governing since then. However, China views the island as a part of its sovereign territory and generally disapproves of any official contacts between Taipei and foreign officials.

Steffen Hebestreit, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's top spokesman, emphasised that the upcoming visit does not signify a change in policy towards Beijing. It makes no difference to our policy that the minister of education and research is in Taiwan, he told reporters.

Stark-visit Watzinger's occurs just a few weeks before German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock's intended trip to Beijing, which, according to multiple sources, will take place in April or May. However, one unnamed German diplomat cited by the outlet questioned the wisdom of scheduling the two trips so close together.

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"What kind of message are we sending to them if on the one hand we send Baerbock to Beijing and on the other hand a minister goes to Taiwan first?" they claimed.

Despite being significant trading partners, there are indications that tensions between China and Germany are rising. According to Bloomberg, Berlin is currently working on a new National Security Strategy that will likely refer to the People's Republic as a "systemic rival," and Scholz recently warned that Beijing would suffer "consequences" if it continued to provide weapons to Russia during the conflict in Ukraine.