Taipei, Sept. 25 (CNA) The Presidential Office on Thursday dismissed a Chinese-language report on the website of German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) as "misquoting" President Ma Ying-jeou's comments on cross-strait relations.
Presidential Office spokesperson Ma Wei-kuo (unrelated to the president) called the article, which was quoted from a Deutsche Presse-Agentur report, groundless and explained that no DW personnel were present when the president made his comments Monday to European correspondents based in Asia.
The statement from his office included the full text of his speech.
The spokeswoman said that contrary to the DW article, the president made it clear during the meeting that the Taiwan-China relationship is different from the Cold War relationship between East and West Germany, meaning Taiwan cannot emulate the German model in cross-strait ties.
The DW report said Ma stressed his willingness to learn from the example of East and West Germany and eventually achieve unification with China.
However, the spokeswoman rejected the report as a "fabrication" and said it was at odds with the facts.
President Ma did not say he would push a China-leaning agenda, nor did he say that getting close to China is Taiwan's only chance at survival as reported by DW, according to the spokeswoman.
Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday that it has requested DW correct its "false reporting."
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Vanessa Shih said during a question-and-answer session at the Legislature that the report was a result of misquotations and has misled domestic media outlets, some of which have run the story prominently.
Ma's joint interview Monday was with Asia-based correspondents for DPA, German newspaper Allgemeine Zeitung and French newspaper Le Figaro, Shih said.
She said the DW report was an "extension" of DPA's reporting that distorted the original meaning of Ma's speech.
(By Kelven Huang and Evelyn Kao)
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