President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of September 1 with Michael Fuchs, a member of the Bundestag and the vice-chairman of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany and Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CDU/CSU) Parliamentary Group. During their meeting, the president updated Dr. Fuchs on the wide range of cooperation projects between the ROC and Germany, while expressing hope that the bilateral relationship will continue to expand.
In remarks, the president first welcomed Dr. Fuchs on visiting the ROC again, pointing out that the two met over 10 years ago when Mr. Ma served as Taipei City mayor. President Ma commented that Dr. Fuchs, originally an entrepreneur, entered German political circles in 2002 when he was elected to the Bundestag. He began serving as vice-chairman of the CDU-CSU Parliamentary Group in September 2009 and is responsible for economic, small- and medium-sized business, and tourism affairs. Dr. Fuchs thus has an enormous influence on German economic and trade policy.
President Ma also remarked that Dr. Fuchs has served as chairman of the Taiwanese-German Joint Business Council since 1997 and that he has visited the ROC over 50 times. He has long promoted the development of bilateral economic and trade relations, and regularly leads delegations to the ROC to attend economic cooperation conferences between the two nations. He also continues to bring about cooperation and trade between enterprises from both countries, and is clearly a good friend of Taiwan, the president noted.
The president went on to say that the ROC's representative to Germany last year conferred the Friendship Medal of Diplomacy on Dr. Fuchs on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in recognition of his longstanding contributions in the pursuit of closer bilateral relations and economic and trade interaction. Dr. Fuchs will soon leave his position as chairman of the Taiwanese-German Joint Business Council, and President Ma extended his best wishes and hoped that Dr. Fuchs will continue to support development of relations between the two countries in a wide range of areas.
Speaking about the bilateral economic and trade relationship, President Ma said that Germany is Taiwan's largest trading partner in the European Union (EU), while Taiwan is Germany's fifth largest trading partner in Asia. Bilateral trade accounts for 24% of Taiwan's total trade volume with Europe, having reached US$15.5 billion.
The president also stated that the two countries in 2010 signed a youth working holiday agreement, and in 2012 and 2013 signed the Arrangement on Cooperation between the Taiwan Customs Service and the German Customs Service to Combat Customs Fraud and the Arrangement on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons and Cooperation in the Enforcement of Penal Sentences, respectively. The two sides in 2012 signed an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation, which helped pave the way for growth in bilateral investment. In 2013, German investment in Taiwan increased 120% from 2012, while the increase in 2014 was 340% over 2013. Germany last year became the second largest foreign investor in Taiwan, while the Taiwan investment in Germany last year grew 207% from the previous year. In addition, the president stated that last year when he made an overseas trip, he made a transit stop in Frankfurt, where the German government extended great courtesy, and he also met a number of Germans friendly to the ROC. All of these gestures signify the close interaction and strong friendship between the two sides, said the president.
President Ma also mentioned that the German government in 2012 introduced Industry 4.0 project, which has resonated here in Taiwan. Accordingly, the ROC government this year set a goal to invest NT$36 billion over the next nine years to actively promote the upgrading of Taiwan's industrial structure and make Taiwan's manufacturing sector "smarter."
Lastly, President Ma hopes Dr. Fuchs will continue to exercise his influence and push for an economic cooperation agreement between Taiwan and the EU, which would deepen substantive interaction and cooperation between the ROC and Germany.