President Ma Ying-jeou met on the evening of May 21 with former president of Bulgaria Zhelyu Zhelev. The president, on behalf of the government and people of the ROC, extended a cordial welcome to former President Zhelev on his visit to Taiwan and thanked him for traveling the long distance to attend the inauguration ceremonies for the 13th-term president and vice president of the ROC. Also attending the meeting were Vice President Wu Den-yih and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tung Kuoyu (董國猷).
President Ma remarked that former President Zhelev was Bulgaria's first directly elected president. Committed to Bulgaria's democratic revolutionary movement throughout his life, former President Zhelev is known as one of Eastern Europe's three big democracy fighters, together with the deceased Czech Republic President Vaclav Havel and Poland's former President Lech Walesa. The three leaders are extremely highly thought of in Eastern Europe and elsewhere, President Ma said. In addition, after leaving office, former President Zhelev formed the Balkan Political Club to continue to promote cooperation among the Balkan nations and to aid in their admission to the European Union. President Ma expressed admiration for the work carried out by the former president.
The president mentioned that former President Zhelev wrote the work Fascism while he was under house arrest by Bulgaria's Communist Party. The book strongly condemned totalitarianism and attracted broad interest throughout the world. Fascism was translated into many languages, and President Ma noted that when the Chinese-language version was released in Taiwan, former President Zhelev personally visited to attend the launch.
President Ma commented that although Bulgaria is geographically quite far away from Taiwan, both sides have nevertheless gradually developed economic, trade, and academic ties. For instance, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) established the Taiwan Trade Center in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia in 2005, helping to create new markets for Taiwan's products. In addition, starting in 2004 Taiwanese companies have annually participated in the International Consumer Goods and Technologies Fair in Plovdiv. Meanwhile, Bulgarian companies participated in Food Taipei in 2011. Taiwan's NexPower Technology Corp., which develops and applies solar photovoltaic technologies, has invested nine million euro in a photovoltaic plant in Bulgaria, both manufacturing and selling products, he said. Also, Alexander Fedtoff, Vice-Rector at Bulgaria's renowned Sofia University, previously visited Taiwan to engage in an academic exchange and helped forge an initiative in which Taiwan scholars provide lectures at Sofia University on the developmental status of Taiwan's small- and medium-sized enterprises. Over 100 members of Bulgaria's National Opera were also invited to Taiwan to stage over 10 performances of the famous opera Turandot, which was extremely well-received here. Finally, the president added that Member of Parliament Dimitar Chukarsky, who is also the chairman of the Bulgarian-Taiwanese Parliamentary Group, previously led a delegation to Taiwan. All of this points to the establishment of a substantive foundation for bilateral relations, the president said.
President Ma also expressed his hope that former President Zhelev will become even more familiar with Taiwan's developmental status on this visit and assist in strengthening relations between the two countries.