President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of April 23 with a delegation from the German-Taiwanese Jurist Society (Deutsch-Taiwanesische Juristenvereinigung, DTJV). In addition to expressing his gratitude to the DTJV for its contributions in promoting judicial interaction between the ROC and Germany, the president also explained to the delegation the ROC's achievements in promoting judicial reform and strengthening judicial autonomy.
In remarks, the president stated that the DTJV was founded in September 1990 in Hamburg, Germany, and subsequently established an office in Taipei in 1997. This year thus marks the organization's 25th anniversary. For many years, the DTJV has continuously promoted both judicial interaction and friendship between the two nations' judicial communities through mutual visits and holding many legal-related academic seminars, the president said.
President Ma also mentioned that Dr. Jan Grotheer, the DTJV president, is highly regarded in German judicial circles and has helped the Judges Association of ROC join the International Association of Judges. Dr. Grotheer has also helped delegations from the ROC's judicial community visit Germany numerous times, making a significant contribution to bilateral interaction. Dr. Grotheer, the president said, was honored by the ROC's Judicial Yuan in 2010 for the many years of strong support and assistance he has given to Taiwan's judicial community.
The president pointed out that Germany is an exemplary example of the civil law system with many notable achievements, and has influenced the development of the rule of law in many East Asian nations. The ROC turned to German law as a foundation in setting up its legal framework, and consequently Germany has had an enormous impact on the ROC's legal system, he said.
Discussing the ROC government's efforts to promote judicial reform and strengthen judicial autonomy over the past few years, the president stated that the ROC's Judicial Yuan has long maintained full autonomy in proposing laws and enjoys complete independence in judicial budgeting, thus ensuring judicial independence. In addition, the Judicial Yuan formulated the Judges Act to protect the status and treatment of judges, and strengthen their self-discipline and self-governance. This legislation has helped to create an even more comprehensive system to ensure judicial independence, the president stated.
The president added that Germany in the 1970s addressed relations between the two Germanys based on the "one Germany, two states" concept (ein Deutschland - zwei Staaten), which inspired the ROC's promotion of cross-strait relations. For instance, much like the Federal Ministry for Intra-German Relations that was set up to handle affairs involving the two Germanys, the ROC established the Mainland Affairs Council under the Executive Yuan to handle cross-strait affairs. East Germany and West Germany, the president said, in 1972 also signed the Basic Treaty, which separates sovereignty from jurisdiction, and is similar to his advocacy of "mutual non-recognition of sovereignty, and mutual non-denial of governing authority" concept for both sides of the Taiwan Strait. These kinds of ideas can serve as a reference point for Taiwan in handling cross-strait relations, the president stated.
The president also mentioned that Germany and France engaged in large-scale student exchange programs following World War II, helping young people from those two countries to forge friendships. This subsequently was extremely helpful in fostering relations between Germany and France and turned out to be quite a visionary policy, he said. In the same vein, the number of mainland Chinese students studying in Taiwan has increased from some 800 before he took office 2008 to over 32,000 today. This allows young people from the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to interact starting at an early age, which helps the development of cross-strait relations, according to the president.
Lastly, the president thanked the delegation for coming all the way to Taiwan to attend the seminar and he hopes that the future holds even greater interaction between the judicial and legal communities of the ROC and Germany so that the two sides can create an even more well-rounded judicial environment in their countries.
Also in the delegation were Hamburg District Court Presiding Judge Britta Erbguth, Head Public Prosecutor at the Public Prosecutor's Office of Hamburg Cornelia Gadigk, former President of the Hamburg District Court Volker Ohlrich, Hamburg District Court Presiding Judge Matthias Steinmann, and Ruhr University Bochum Professor of Law Peter A. Windel. The delegation was led by Dr. Grotheer and was accompanied to the Presidential Office by Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Vanessa Yea-Ping Shih (史亞平) to meet with President Ma.