Former Swiss Minister Criticised For Visit To Chinese Embassy


(MENAFN- Swissinfo) Busy retirement: Ueli Maurer at a parade in Zurich on April 17, five days after visiting the Chinese embassy in Bern © Keystone / Michael Buholzer

Retired government Minister Ueli Maurer visited the Chinese ambassador in Bern on April 12 – the day the House of Representatives approved strengthened relations with Taiwan's parliament. Eyebrows and questions have been raised.

This content was published on May 4, 2023 May 4, 2023 Keystone-SDA/ts

The federal Chancellery says Maurer, who was a member of the seven-person Federal Council from 2009 to the end of 2022 for the right-wing Swiss People's Party, didn't have a government mandate.

Maurer and Ambassador Wang Shihting exchanged views at length on the“innovative strategic partnership” and“economic, financial and industrial cooperation” between the two countries, the Chinese embassy wrote on its websiteexternal link on Tuesday. The newspaper Blick first reported on the visitexternal link on Thursday under the headline“What's Ueli Maurer doing with the Chinese?”

According to the Chinese embassy, Maurer expressed his willingness to continue contributing to the deepening of“friendly relations”. The embassy correctly referred to Maurer as“former federal councillor” in the title of its message, but as“federal councillor” in the text itself.

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Swissinfo

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