TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Federal Minister for Education and Research Bettina Stark-Watzinger will be the highest-ranking German government member to visit Taiwan in 26 years, while her political party was also hoping Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) could travel to Germany, reports said Tuesday (Dec. 13).

Plans for a trip in 2023 were revealed by Peter Heidt, a member of the German Bundestag’s Human Rights Committee who visited Taiwan in October, the Liberty Times reported. Both Stark-Watzinger and Heidt belong to the centrist Free Democratic Party (FDP), and, like the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), are members of the Liberal International.

The minister plans to visit Taiwan during the spring, while the FDP is also discussing the possibility of having Wu travel to Germany, according to news site Tagesspiegel. While such a trip is unlikely to have official diplomatic status, Wu might be invited by a foundation to attend a panel discussion about Southeast Asia, though no concrete plans have been made, Heidt said.

Heidt described the planned visit by Germany’s education minister as showing that Taiwan is an important partner and that a change of the status quo in the Taiwan Strait by violent means is not acceptable. Stark-Watzinger’s visit will focus on cooperation between universities and on digital issues, he added.

Previous German federal government members to visit Taiwan included Economics Ministers Juergen Moellemann in 1992 and Guenter Rexrodt in 1994 and 1997, Tagesspiegel reported. Both were also members of the FDP.