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Germany's gay Foreign Minister was in China with his partner, but did anyone notice?

westerwelle-china-tour.jpg
Guido Westerwelle and the German delegation pose for a picture with Premier Wen Jiabao, and no, the man to Westerwelle's right is not his bodyguard! [Source]
Earlier this month, while all eyes were on what was to be China's first ever Mr Gay China pageant, we totally overlooked a trip made by Germany's openly gay Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle. This was Westerwelle's first trip to Asia in his new role since he led the pro-business Free Democratic Party to its best election result ever late last year. What made this trip newsworthy, in our opinion, was that the world's only openly gay foreign minister was bringing his partner, Michael Mronz (a marketing executive working in the private sector) along on an official visit to Asia. This is unheard of.

Westerwelle's short three day tour began with a 22 hour visit to Tokyo, Japan on Jan 14 and this was followed by another two days in Beijing, where he met up with Premier Wen Jiabao and Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi (the man who famously quipped that Chinese is one of the easiest languages in the world to learn). Westerwelle also visited the National Development and Reform Commission, where he held talks with Minister Zhang Ping. And perhaps to underscore Germany's emphasis on human rights, Westerwelle met up with representatives of China's civil society and made a visit to Beijing's Lama Temple.

What's totally ironic now as we look back, of course, was that the dramatic shutdown of the Mr Gay China pageant coincided with the first day of Westerwelle's visit. Were the two events related? We will never know.

Xinhua's report on Westerwelle's visit was unsurprisingly silent on the surprise appearance by Mronz, going only so far as to say that Westerwelle was "accompanied by a number of German parliamentarians and a business delegation".

According to German publication Bild, the Japanese were quietly irritated by Mronz's presence. The article also revealed that while Westerwelle was busy attending events, Mronz undertook a "programme typical for a foreign dignitary's partner", visiting a museum amongst others.

It has also been revealed that Mronz paid for this trip out of his own pocket (we wonder: if governments should pay for the opposite-sex spouses of ministers to go on trips, why shouldn't they do the same for their same-sex spouses? Update: See comment #2). DPA reports though that Mronz has "no intention of joining his partner on every official trip" because he himself has "too much to do", preferring instead to come along every now and then when schedules permit.

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  • Ralf

    "Why was Mronz allowed to tag along? Is it okay for straight ministers to bring along long-time girlfriends to whom they are not married on overseas trips?"

    Why should he not? Why shouldn't girlfriends be allowed, if they're paying out of their own pocket? What's with the focus on marriage?

    It seems that a lot of people try to hold politicians to a more traditional standard than they do the rest of society.

    If the business guys have a legitimate interest, then the BF also has a legitimate interest, albeit for other reasons.

    If my company didn't allow me to take my partner paying his own way on a business trip, I'd think there was something wrong with that hard-fought German liberalism.

    And putting the man in the group photo could be seen as championing those liberal values - I wonder what Wen Jiabao thought of it, but since Chinese leadership smiles always look the same (like, not a smile), it's difficult to tell...

    @Thecrazy88: We enter murky territory here. The headlines about their relationship came out years ago, so I guess they're fairly long-term, even if not in a civil union. I personally think it shouldn't matter, though I guess in reality it would matter if people brought along any old toy-boy/girl...

  • rushour

    Yang Jiechi was not only the man who "famously quipped that Chinese is one of the easiest languages" but also the man who, when commenting on China's emission, said Westerner should be the one to take a diet since they eat three slices of bread while Chinese consume only one.

  • Kenneth Tan

    Excellent question. These two have been together for a long time and I've always thought that they were in a civil union. Now that you've asked this question, I've done some research and it appears that the two of them are not married.

    Which leads us to the next question: Why was Mronz allowed to tag along? Is it okay for straight ministers to bring along long-time girlfriends to whom they are not married on overseas trips?

  • Thecrazy88

    "We wonder: if governments should pay for the opposite-sex spouses of ministers to go on trips, why shouldn't they do the same for their same-sex spouses?"

    Just one question- how long have they been seeing each other? Is he a boyfriend or a life-partner?

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