Tsai congratulates Merkel on winning 4th term as German chancellor

2017/09/28

President Tsai Ing-wen congratulated Sept. 25 Angela Merkel on winning her fourth term as German chancellor in the European country’s recent general election.
 
“The relationship between Taiwan and Germany is steadily developing,” Tsai said in a letter to Merkel following her victory. “Germany has long been Taiwan’s largest trading partner in Europe, and Taiwan is Germany’s fifth-largest trading partner in Asia.
 
“Bilateral academic, cultural, educational, energy and technology ties are also extremely close.”
 
According to the president, the government and people of Taiwan are extremely grateful for Germany’s ongoing support of Taiwan’s substantive participation in international organizations. But it is disappointing that Taiwan was unable to participate in this year’s World Health Assembly, she said.
 
“It is hoped bilateral efforts will allow Taiwan to continue having opportunities to actively contribute to international society.”
 
Taiwan was invited in 2009 by the World Health Organization to take part as an observer in the annual WHA—the decision-making body of the WHO—following 38 years of exclusion. It attended every WHA until this year when the WHO declined to issue an invitation.
 
 During Taiwan’s eight years of WHA participation, the country shared its extensive experience in a range of areas like providing universal health care coverage and managing outbreaks of highly contagious diseases. This involvement is widely recognized as helping strengthen global disease prevention and safeguard the health of Taiwan’s 23 million people.
 
 Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian ally Christian Social Union won 33 percent of the vote. Social Democrats secured 20.5 percent and the nationalist Alternative for Germany 12.6 percent. Turnout was more than 76 percent, up from 71.5 percent in 2013.

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=2&post=122214)