On October 4, President Chen Shui-bian received Christian Lange, Chairman of the Social Democratic Party's (SDP) congressional sub-group "Netzwerk" (Network), and members of the Bundestag (Parliament).
President Chen extended his welcome to the visitors and appreciated German Parliament's resolution in October 2004 that opposed the removal of EU's weapons embargo on China.
President Chen said that the embargo was enforced 17 years ago after the Tiananmen Square Incident. Over the 17 years, China has made little improvement on human rights and has continuously increased the number of missiles deployed along the coast of Southeast China from 200 in 2000 to more than 800 at present, he added.
In March 2005, China passed the so-called "Anti-Secession Law" as a legal basis for using forces against Taiwan. If the EU lifts the embargo, it would send a false signal to China.
President Chen also said that Taiwan and China could draw on the lessons from the unification of Germany and the integration of the European Union. In both cases, all the countries involved are recognized as equal parties and they shared the common values of democracy, peace and equality. In addition, it was decided by the people of each country whether to join the EU membership, rather than by forces.
Also present at the meeting were members of the Bundestag (Parliament) Andreas Weigel, Gregor Amann, Jurgen Neumeyer, Taiwan's Deputy Foreign Minister Yang Tzu-pao and Deputy Secretary-General to the President Liu Shyh-fang.