3 ms·

For what it's worth, I don't believe West Germany ever formally recognized East Germany. The closest was allowing a state visit from Honecker in 1987.

• luckylion 5y ago
  They signed an agreement in the early 70ies ("Grundlagenvertrag") outlining their relationships and had mutual defacto-embassies ("Ständige Vertretung") and called the heads of those ambassadors (at least the GDR did, I believe the FRG did not, but they were ambassadors for all intents and purposes).
  • dustintrex 5y ago
    That does not sound hugely different from China and Taiwan, which, despite the bluster, also de facto recognize each other in all sorts of ways like having quasi-diplomatic representatives, issuing travel documents to each other's citizens, etc.
    • luckylion 5y ago
      Having embassies, recognizing the other side's sovereignty and not considering them a rebellious province of your own state sounds very different from the China/Taiwan situation to me. Germany's two halves treated each other as neighbors and did not consider the other side an opponent in a war that's temporarily paused (after the initial conflict, but that was mostly the Soviets trying to take Berlin by starving the population). In case you're wondering: the Berlin Wall does not suggest differently, it was meant to stop people from fleeing the socialist East Germany ("Republikflucht", literally flight from the republic, was a crime in the GDR, and they killed quite a few that sought freedom from the "worker's paradise"), it was never meant to keep invaders out.