President Chen Shui-bian met with a delegation of German parliamentarians on February 23, extending his warmest welcome and appreciating their support to Taiwan issues.
The delegation was headed by Willy Wimmer, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the German parliament, and the other delegates were Parliamentarians Leo Dautzenberg and Detlef Dzembritzki.
Since Germany is Taiwan's largest trading partner in Continental Europe and the sixth largest trading partner in the world, the president told the delegation that he hoped to see more cooperation and trade between the two countries in the future.
The president expressed his gratefulness that German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer openly said that he assumed a negative and reserved attitude toward the lifting of the EU arms embargo against China and was worried about the impacts of China's "Anti-Separation Law." Prior to the German foreign minister's remarks, the German Parliament had already shown its deepest concern over the related issues, for that the president extended to the delegation his gratitude.
The president also hoped the guests would urge the German government to support Taiwan's bid to become an observer at the World Health Assembly, an issue which has been supported by the European Parliament for many consecutive years on account of its irrelevance to the sovereignty disputes. "I hope," the president said, "to be in line with the European Parliament, the German Government will also support Taiwan's humble request in this regard."
Following the line of discussion, the president and the guests then turned to the parallelism between Germany and the two countries in the Taiwan Strait. "Sovereignty, democracy, peace, and reciprocity are the core values that had remained in either German unification or EU formation. The situation in the Taiwan Strait region, however, is far from the same," said the president. "China doest not recognize Taiwan's sovereignty, does not respect Taiwan citizens' right of choice, threatens Taiwan and its citizens with non-peaceful means, and is desperate to 'de-governmentize' Taiwan as a country, which, obviously, is not comparable with the situation before the German unification."
To conclude the meeting, the president, again, expressed his appreciation for the delegation's visit and long-term support, and hoped the friendship between the countries would be further strengthened.