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Ma’s ‘German formula’ remarks criticized

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday called in question of President Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) understanding of his“one Germany, two States" remarks.

Speaking at the European Chamber of Commerce in Taipei on Thursday night, Ma said he had learned a lot from “one Germany, two States,” and the way the Germans dealt with the problems of “two parts of one country” when he was vice chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council 15 years ago.

Although the formula is not entirely applicable to the Taiwan Strait situation, the efforts West Germany and East Germany made to seek a solution to a peaceful transition could act as a reference point and were worthy of emulation by the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, Ma said.

Ma, however, did not elaborate on what his understanding of the formula was.

Director of the DPP’s Department of International Affairs Lin Chen-wei (林成蔚) said that in the German formula, East Germany and West Germany had mutual respect for the other side’s sovereignty and they were both members of the UN at the time of German reunification.

Lin said if the principle of mutual recognition was what Ma meant by bringing up the German formula, that would be a more progressive view than the “one China, with each side having its own interpretation,” policy — the so-called “1992 consensus” that Ma has pledged to use.

“We hope that Ma can hold on to that view and that he won’t go back on his words, either today or tomorrow,” Lin said.

But Lin said that Ma’s remarks on “one Germany, two States” still fell short of the DPP’s policy, which is “one country on each side.”
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