President Ma stated that Germany in the 1970s handled relations between the two Germanys under the concept of "ein Deutschland – zwei Staaten." This, he said, provided considerable inspiration to Taiwan in promoting relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. The president noted that Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, which was set up to handle cross-strait relations, is modeled after the former West Germany's Federal Ministry for Intra-German Relations. He said that Mainland Affairs Council Minister Wang Yu-Chi (王郁琦) led a delegation two weeks ago to mainland China to meet with his counterpart there, Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council. This meeting was extremely significant in that it marked the first such meeting between the heads of the two agencies since the two sides came under separate rule 65 years ago, he remarked. The thinking that allowed this meeting to take place, noted President Ma, was also in line with the principle of separation of sovereignty and governing authority put forward in the Basic Treaty signed between the two Germanys in 1972.
【Source: Office of the President】