Germany has good relations with Taiwan and intends to expand them on various issues, a German Federal Foreign Office official said on Monday, calling for the cross-strait “status quo” to be preserved.

Petra Sigmund, director-general for East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific at the Federal Foreign Office, made the remarks in a keynote speech at the Second Berlin Taiwan Conference.

The conference, held on Monday and yesterday at the German capital, was organized by Reinhard Butikofer, a German member of the European Parliament and chairman of the parliament’s Delegation for Relations with the People’s Republic of China.