Taipei, May 6 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian on Tuesday described the exchange of representative offices between Taiwan and Mongolia as highly encouraging and said he was overwhelmed by the diplomatic achievement.
At an audience in the Presidential Office with a group of Mongolian prosecutors, led by Mongolia's State Public Prosecutor General M. Altankhuyag, Chen said he was pleased that after about six years of effort, the two countries have finally opened liaison offices in each other's capital to bolster bilateral exchanges.
Chen did not hesitate to attribute the diplomatic achievement to the seeds that were sewn by him back in mid-September 1997 when he, in his capacity as Taipei mayor, traveled to Ulan Bator to sign an agreement with his then-counterpart, Mayor Janlavin Narantsatsralt, to create Taipei-Ulan Bator sister city ties.
Again in 1999, Chen added, he visited Mongolia for the second time, before he was sworn in as the Republic of China president, at the invitation of the Mongolian government. During that time, he and his Mongolian hosts took the initiative to establish the Taiwan-Mongolia Association and the Mongolia-Taiwan Association as transit facilities since the two countries had yet to open representative offices.
Also during the 1999 trip, Chen said, Narantsatsralt gave him a Mongolian horse called "heavenly steed" as a gift. Although the treasured gift could not travel with him back to Taiwan, he said he has constantly been kept informed on the animal's life.
Chen welcomed Altankhuyag and the Mongolian prosecutor group, which also included Erdenebileg Shagdarsuren, chief prosecutor of Mongolia's Dornod province.
Chen exhorted workshop attendees to take the opportunity to learn more about the judicial system and practices in the Republic of China.