ROC President Ma Ying-jeou said Oct. 29 that Germany’s experience has been very valuable as a reference in promoting cross-strait relations and handling disputes over the Diaoyutai Archipelago.
Ma made the remarks while receiving a delegation led by German parliamentarian Franz Josef Jung at the Presidential Office in Taipei City.
“I’ve visited Germany 15 times since 1985,” the president said. “In early trips I learned a great deal about relations between East and West Germany, and the mechanisms established to handle affairs between them,” such as the 1972 Basic Treaty and reciprocal permanent missions, he added.
“When we later began drafting the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, and when we set up the Mainland Affairs Council under the Executive Yuan and the Straits Exchange Foundation, the German experience was an important source of information, adapted of course to suit our conditions.”
Ma also took a trip to Germany in 1990 when the two sides were in the process of unification. “The understanding we gained at that time has been very beneficial to the conduct of cross-strait relations.”
The president said the ROC’s East China Sea peace initiative took its inspiration from the International Court of Justice’s North Sea Continental Shelf Cases ruling of 1969, which set out many important principles for settling territorial disagreements among Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.
The initiative, in addition to insisting on ROC sovereignty over the Diaoyutais and fishing rights in surrounding waters, calls for the peaceful settlement of controversies and shared development of resources, he noted.
Germany is also very important to Taiwan as its largest trading partner in Europe, and the working holiday agreement between the two countries has been very successful as well, Ma pointed out. “I hope that during its stay the delegation can gain a greater understanding of Taiwan and continue to promote bilateral ties.” (THN)