自一九四一年七月中華民國政府與德國斷絕外交關係後，中德雙方源自三○年代起建立的密切政治與外交關係再也未能恢復。一九五○年代初期，格於冷戰時期國際情勢，新成立的聯邦德國（西德）囿於「一個德國」政策，力圖避免在臺海兩岸主權爭議問題上明確選邊，因此西德與臺灣的關係僅侷限於經貿、文化交流，很難在政治接觸上開闢新的對話管道。不過，自六○年代初期起，在缺乏外交關係的現實下，德臺雙方透過情報合作、派遣軍事顧問與代訓軍官等模式建立起非正式的政府間接觸。直至一九七二年西德承認北京政權並決定停止德臺軍事交流為止，藉由軍事交流與情報合作的模式，德臺雙方突破政治障礙，在傳統外交管道外，開闢新的政治運作空間，不僅維持著戰後兩國間政府層級的聯繫，更為冷戰國際情勢下的德臺雙邊關係賦予特別的歷史意義。

After Nationalist China severed diplomatic relation with Germany in July of 1941, the close political and diplomatic relations established from the 1930s failed to resume. The Cold War began after the end of World War II. Limited by her “One Germany” policy, the newly formed West Germany tried to avoid getting involved in the controversy over sovereignity on the two sides of the Taiwan Straits. Except for the economic and cultural activities existing between these two countries, it was extremely difficult to set up any political channels for dialogue.
Although there were no diplomatic relations between these two countries, West Germany and Nationalist China still maintained unofficial relation with each other by means of intelligence cooperation, military advisers, and officer training program from the 1960s. Until 1972 when West Germany recognized the Peking regime and decided to interrupt the military exchange, West Germany and Nationalist China had overcome political obstacles and opened up new political space through military exchanges and intelligence cooperation outside traditional diplomatic channels. The exchanges not merely maintained connections between these two countries at government levels after the war, but also gave a special historical significance to the bilateral relations within the international framework of the Cold War.