President Chen Shui-bian on July 12 at the Presidential Building met with a visiting delegation of New Zealand House of Representative Members from the National Party. The president said that New Zealand is an important member of the democratic community. New Zealand was declared a dominion in 1907 and became a sovereign nation in 1947. Like Taiwan, New Zealand is a new democracy. However, in the course of democratic development, New Zealand did not experience 38 years of martial law as Taiwan. This is something for which the people of New Zealand should feel very fortunate, the president said.
The president said that the government and people of New Zealand have a high respect for indigenous people and minorities. He noted that the first sentence that parliamentarians and government officials use when greeting each other is in the Maori language. President Chen said this is something that Taiwan should learn from and emulate.
President Chen said Taiwan and New Zealand have a strong foundation in trade and economic cooperation. Last year, bilateral trade stood at NZ$1 billion, which was a growth of 10% from 2005. Taiwan is New Zealand's eighth largest trading partner, he said. The president said economic and trade consultations at the vice ministerial level have been held between the two countries 13 times and that the Joint Meeting of ROC-New Zealand and New Zealand-Taiwan Business Councils has been held 18 times, rotating between the two countries. The president said Taiwan hopes that the vice ministerial level trade consultations will be raised to ministerial level talks in the future.
President Chen said the parliamentarians of the visiting delegation are all from the National Party, which is New Zealand's largest opposition party and which enjoys a high level of support among the populace. According to public opinion pools, support for the National Party surpasses that for the ruling Labor Party by between 17% and 25%.
The visiting delegation was led by MP Anne Tolley and her husband, MP Maurice Williamson, MP Allan Peachey and his wife, MP Kate Wilkinson, MP Eric Roy and his wife, and MP Paula Bennett.