December 4, 2017
No.224
An eight-member delegation from Germany’s Junge Union, led by Dr. Martin Plum, a member of the union’s Federal Board, is visiting Taiwan from December 4 to 8 at the invitation of the Republic of China (Taiwan) government.
The trip will give delegation members the opportunity to gain a better understanding of Taiwan’s political and economic developments, as well as advance exchanges with young counterparts from Taiwan’s political parties.
The visitors will call at the Legislative Yuan, the Council of Agriculture, the National Development Council, the Mainland Affairs Council, the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Department of International Cooperation, Taipei City government, the Democratic Progressive Party, the Kuomintang, the New Power Party, and the German Institute Taipei, as well as attend a breakfast held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They will also visit various sites of cultural and economic interest, including the European Union Centre in Taiwan, the National Palace Museum, and Taipei 101.
Founded in 1947, the Junge Union presently boasts around 120,000 members. Europe’s largest youth political organization, its main aim is to foster a new generation of members for Germany’s Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union parties, and has served as a cradle for the cultivation of many of the country’s political leaders. Numerous parliamentarians from the current CDU/CSU coalition, as well as many minsters and heads of Germany’s federal and local governments, were once leading members of the union’s federal or regional associations.
The delegation includes six current members of the Junge Union’s Federal Board, its highest decision-making body. The delegation’s other members are an international affairs specialist and a deputy director of the union’s communications division. (E)