Parliamentary Friends of Berlin-Taipei
The Parliamentary Friends of Berlin-Taipei is a parliamentary group of the German Bundestag.
Parliamentary groups in the German Bundestag
The first parliamentary groups were founded in the third electoral term from 1957. In the tenth legislature up to 1987 there were already 28, today there are 52 groups in the Bundestag. The groups are intergroups. In addition to the Bundestag, you operate a bit of “parliamentary foreign policy”. The groups are interested in exchanging information with members of parliament, establishing contact with government representatives and civil society. The inter-parliamentary groups are independent forums and are characterized by an open and impartial atmosphere for discussion. MPs can be members of a maximum of five parliamentary groups.
Parliamentary Friends of Berlin-Taipei
The parliamentary group was constituted on November 29, 1989 in Bonn after discussions between the Sino-German Society - Friends of Taiwan , the representative of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Sampson Shen and parliamentarians. The group was founded about 2½ years after the German-Chinese parliamentary group. Nevertheless, Germany was the second country in Europe to have founded a parliamentary group for Taiwan.
size
The number of founding members of the Freundeskreis Bonn-Taipei was 125.
The high number of members when it was founded is a combination for various reasons, on the one hand from sympathy for the beginning democratization of the country, the support after the German reunification to a likewise divided country, the horrific massacre that has just taken place on the Tiananmen Square in Beijing , the dispute over arms exports for the security of Taiwan and the country's economic strength, at a time when the German economy was investing even more in Taiwan than in China.
The Circle of Friends currently has 58 members. This means that the Freundeskreis is still one of the larger parliamentary groups.
Chairperson
The chairman (also called spokesman) of the Freundeskreis is Klaus-Peter Willsch , CDU parliamentary group. His predecessors were Wilhelm Josef Sebastian , CDU and Klaus Rose , CSU . In addition to the chairman, there are three deputy chairmen: Angelika Krüger-Leißner ( SPD ), Hans-Joachim Otto ( FDP ), Wolfgang Wieland ( BÜNDNIS 90 / DIE GRÜNEN ).
particularities
In Germany, the group should be analogous to the other parliamentary groups in the Bundestag, e.g. B. German-Japanese parliamentary group. After long deliberations, it was necessary to agree on the name “Parliamentary Circle of Friends Bonn-Taipei”, which, compared to the other parliamentary groups, reflects Germany's cautious position on the Taiwan question. Nevertheless, the Freundeskreis has the same rights as all groups, e.g. B. the reimbursement of costs for a trip by the parliamentary group to the partner country and the invitation of the partner group per legislative period. When the federal government moved to the new capital Berlin, the group was renamed the “Parliamentary Circle of Friends Berlin-Taipei”.
In order to strengthen bilateral relations with the Taiwanese parliament, the "ROC-FRG Parliamentary Circle of Friends" was founded in Taiwan in May 1992.
tasks
The relationship between Germany and Taiwan is not based on "normal" relationships. The circle of friends tries to normalize relationships. Despite the special status of Taiwan, apart from the name, it is a regular parliamentary group. Due to the lack of official diplomatic relations, the parliamentary circle of friends has a special representative importance - a higher importance than with other parliamentary groups. The Freundeskreis serves to solve problems in dealing with authorities and to ensure a constant exchange of views between the two countries. In addition, the cooperation and friendship between the parliaments is strengthened by regular visits by parliamentarians from both countries to the respective partner country. The Freundeskreis is the best example of “personal networking”. The program to improve political and economic relations with Taiwan, co-designed by Günter Klein (CDU), Karl Lammers, foreign policy spokesman (CDU), and Horst Niggemeier (SPD) read when it was founded: “Germany should be ready to make its contacts To maintain and further develop Taiwan below the threshold of international legal relations. This also applies to the expansion of cultural exchange. In particular, the German economy should be given more opportunities to further develop and expand its business relations with Taiwan [...]. Therefore, all possibilities of promoting cooperation should be used. [...] "
The circle of friends serves to create more leeway for Taiwan politics and to facilitate the establishment of contacts. The interests and concerns of the government in Taipei can also be indirectly brought to the German government through the Freundeskreis in the Bundestag. The Parliamentary Circle of Friends was able to help set up direct flight connections between Germany and Taiwan and to facilitate visas. The Freundeskreis initiated a number of debates on Taiwan politics in the Bundestag. It is true that the Freundeskreis cannot directly influence the German government in its “one-China policy” at the political level. Under the given circumstances, however, more favorable framework conditions for cooperation between the two countries could be created. The Freundeskreis can rightly be called the “engine of bilateral progress”. Due to the lack of official diplomatic contacts between the two governments, a real "parliamentary diplomacy" has developed to compensate.
Individual evidence
- ↑ See information from the German Bundestag. On the Internet: - ( Memento of the original from January 19, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
- ↑ http://www.dcg-freunde-taiwans.de
- ↑ http://www.klaus-peter-willsch.de/
- ↑ Günter Pursch : Relations with Taiwan should be improved. A new Asian policy is taking shape . In: The Parliament. No. 37/1993
- ↑ See e.g. B. the intergroup group motion of members of the Bundestag from the CDU / CSU, FDP and SPD to improve the "trade relations with Taiwan", Bundestag printed paper 12/4341.
- ^ Wolfgang Lüder: The parliamentary circle of friends Bonn-Taipei: Motor of bilateral progress. Bonn 1994
- ↑ Klaus Rose: Taiwan. The island republic in the focus of German politics . Hamburg 2006, p. 79
