Taipei: The German Institute Taipei issued a strongly worded statement condemning the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu for comparing Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government to the Nazi regime.

According to Focus Taiwan, the German representative office to Taiwan expressed "deep disappointment and concern" over Chu's comments made during a KMT standing committee meeting in Taipei. Chu had compared the actions of Taiwan's Vice President Lai Ching-te to those of Adolf Hitler, amidst an investigation into alleged forgery of signatures by KMT in recall petitions against DPP lawmakers.

Prosecutors have raided multiple KMT local chapters, including those in Taipei and New Taipei, in recent weeks. The head of KMT's Taipei chapter, Huang Lu Chin-ju, is currently detained for alleged forgery and illegal use of personal data. Chu accused the DPP government of exploiting the judiciary to target the KMT, likening it to Hitler's manipulation of legal procedures to dismantle democratic institutions in Germany.

In its statement, the German office urged the KMT leadership to avoid historically insensitive comparisons, stating such behavior distorts the memory of the past for political ends. The office highlighted the troubling nature of drawing parallels between Nazi atrocities and Taiwan's current political situation.

The German Institute Taipei's post, representing Berlin's interests in Taiwan, was shared by the European Union and French offices. The Israel Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei also protested, emphasizing the offensiveness of trivializing the Holocaust and its impact on the Jewish community.

In response to foreign criticism, Chu reiterated his stance, arguing that foreign governments should not interfere in Taiwan's internal affairs and accused the Lai administration of becoming a dictatorship through persecution of the opposition.