President Ma Ying-jeou met with former Chairman of the Munich Conference on Security Policy, Dr. Horst M. Teltschik, at the Presidential Office on the morning of September 10. The president extended a warm welcome to Dr. Teltschik on his visit to Taiwan.
President Ma commented that Dr. Teltschik has served in a number of important positions in the private and public sectors, as well as in multinational enterprises. He was appointed honorary professor at economic faculty of the Technical University of Munich, and has served in the past as representative of Boeing Germany, a director of BMW, and deputy National Security Advisor to former Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Dr. Teltschik has also long been involved in affairs involving the two Germanys, playing an important role in the 1990s during the process of German reunification. The president said he hopes this visit by Dr. Teltschik will help to further promote relations between Taiwan and Germany. President Ma said he also hopes that Dr. Teltschik will share with us his experience related to the interaction between the two Germanys to serve as reference for Taiwan in handling cross-strait relations.
President Ma stated that 20 years ago when he served in the Executive Yuan, he worked in the field of mainland China affairs, and visited Germany many times to examine systems involving the government agency responsible for affairs between the two Germanys. The president said that the decision by the ROC to establish the Mainland Affairs Council was inspired by the experience of the two Germanys, although the model here used is different than that used by Germany. Nevertheless, the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area was drafted with reference to the judicial cooperation experience between the two Germanys. After the reunification of the two Germanys, he said, he made another trip to the nation and observed the differences between the two Germanys and the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. In Germany's situation, the government addressed the issues associated with East Germany, while the governments of Taiwan and mainland China have lagged behind the private sector in cross-strait exchanges. Given the close cross-strait investment and trade ties, the government decided to promote the signing of the cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with the hope of putting booming cross-strait trade on a systematic footing.
The president added that both Taiwan and Germany practice a civil law system. He stated that trade between Taiwan and Germany last year topped US$10 billion, and that each year significant numbers of students from Taiwan head to Germany to study. He commented that the two sides have enjoyed extremely close ties that can hopefully be further expanded in the future.
Dr. Teltschik and Mrs. Teltschik were accompanied to the Presidential Office in the morning by Deputy Foreign Minister Lyushun Shen to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting was National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Chih-kung Liu.