Taiwan-based Evergreen Group Chairman Chang Yung-fa became the first ROC citizen awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany March 13.
Chang was presented with the medal by Deputy Director General of the German Institute Taipei Mirko Kruppa on behalf of German President Joachim Gauck at a ceremony in Taipei City.
This is the 15th international award Chang has received since he established Evergreen Marine Corp., the nucleus of the Evergreen Group, in 1968. The Evergreen Group has extensive interests in the transportation and logistics business, including carrier EVA Airways Corp. and a hotel chain.
Evergreen Marine Corp. operates seven sea routes calling on Germany, and in the past decade it has averaged a throughput of more than 500,000 twenty-foot equivalent units annually at the ports of Hamburg and Bremen. With the resulting jobs and development created in local harbor, railway and road transport businesses, the company contributes more than 40 million euros each year to the German economy.
The Order of Merit is the German government’s sole federal decoration. Instituted in 1951, it is divided into three classes, of which the Grand Cross is the highest. The order is intended to reward those who contribute to Germany’s political, socioeconomic and intellectual activity. Recommendations for the honor are made by regional governments for approval by the president.
The two previous Taiwan honorees, Judicial Yuan Grand Justice Tai Tung-hsiung and Sino-German Cultural and former Director of Economic Association Han Yi-jing, were both presented with the Cross of the Order of Merit. (SDH)