Minister of Culture Lee Yung-te (李永得) officially met his German counterpart for the first time in Berlin on Tuesday, lauding it as a milestone for cultural exchanges between the two sides.
Lee, who is visiting Europe for the first time since taking office in May 2020, met with German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media Claudia Roth at the Bundestag and discussed cultural exchanges, and human rights and transitional justice issues, the Ministry of Culture said in a statement yesterday.
Roth praised Taiwan during their meeting, saying it was “standing courageously in the front line against the Chinese authoritarian regime,” and that all democratic partners should stand with it, the ministry said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Culture via CNA
Roth also said that at previous Cologne Pride parades — one of the largest LGBTQ+ events in Europe — millions of participants applauded Taiwan after it became the first place in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage in May 2019, the statement said.
Lee said that Taiwan is safeguarding freedom and democratic values, despite facing threats from an authoritarian country, and hopes to have closer links with democratic countries around the globe.
The ministers also talked about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and expressed their highest respect for Ukrainians for defending their freedom, democracy and sovereignty, the statement said.
“Both of us believe that amid the [COVID-19] pandemic and Russia-Ukraine war, democratic countries should be more united,” Lee told a Central News Agency reporter in Berlin after the meeting.
The two sides had agreed to build closer ties in the areas of transitional justice, performance arts and movies, he added.
“Today’s meeting was an important milestone in Taiwan-Germany cultural exchanges,” he said.
Lee began his eight-day tour of Europe in Berlin on Monday with a visit to the Humboldt Forum, a museum of non-European art on Museum Island in the historic center of the capital.
He met with Daniela Kluckert, German parliamentary state secretary in the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, and German Federal Commissioner for the Victims of the SED Dictatorship Evelyn Zupke on Monday.
He also appointed Dieter Jaenicke, a seasoned curator, festival manager and artistic director, as the ministry’s international affairs consultant.
Lee was to head to the Czech Republic, where he was to meet with the Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil later yesterday.
He is then to visit Paris to present the Taiwan-France Cultural Award before heading back to Taiwan on Tuesday next week.
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