Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday told Shanghai Mayor Yang Xiong (楊雄) that he hoped increased participation in this year’s Taipei-Shanghai forum would help both sides of the Taiwan Strait boost interactions, goodwill and mutual trust.
Ko, who arrived in Shanghai earlier yesterday for the Taipei-Shanghai City Forum, made the remarks during his meeting with Yang, where the two exchanged pleasantries and souvenirs.
The nearly 100 businesspeople in the 130-strong Taipei delegation are scheduled to exchange opinions about culture, smart city infrastructure, youth entrepreneurship and healthcare systems within communities with their Chinese counterparts today at the Ruijin Hotel Shanghai, the forum’s venue.
Photo: CNA
Yang touted Shanghai and Taipei as the first two cities to have carried out exchanges across the Taiwan Strait, including the annual forum, which he said has led to remarkable outcomes. In return, Ko expressed his gratitude to the Shanghai City Government for hosting the event.
Ko presented Yang with a souvenir, a painting by Taipei Municipal Bailing Senior High School student Hsu En-chi (許恩綺), which features a white pigeon and a Qin Dynasty terra-cotta soldier, juxtaposing the concepts of peace and war.
In return, Yang presented Ko with a painted ceramic dish.
Yang referred to Ko as “Mayor Ko of Taipei,” avoiding a concern among local media outlets that China would try to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty by addressing Ko in an inappropriate manner.
In response to reporters’ questions prior to his departure, Ko said he would seek to establish mutual trust across the Taiwan Strait.
“Without mutual trust, both sides are always on guard against each other. This slows things down, resulting in low efficiency,” he said.
Ko also brushed aside criticism by Taipei City Councilor Wang Shih-chien (王世堅) of the Democratic Progressive Party, who said that members of the delegation were “Ko Dynasty nouveaux riches,” using Universal Eye Center president Lin Pi-jung (林丕容) as an example.
In response, Ko said that Lin was his sole appointment to the delegation.
On Sunday evening, Wang told the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) that Ko was apparently taking Lin, his National Taiwan University classmate, on the trip so that Lin could “establish business ties” in China, similar to methods employed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).
He lambasted Ko’s move, saying that private-sector delegates selected by the Taipei City Government are “parvenus” of the “Ko Dynasty.”
Ko said that, with the exception of Lin, who also doubles as the chairman of online shopping outlet books.com.tw, all delegates were appointed by the conveners of four sub-forums scheduled to open in Shanghai today.
“The only exception is Lin Pi-jung, my college classmate. We are quite close. Considering that he has a business in Shanghai and that he knows his way around, I specifically put him on the delegation,” he said.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
Two US House of Representatives committees yesterday condemned China’s attempt to orchestrate a crash involving Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim’s (蕭美琴) car when she visited the Czech Republic last year as vice president-elect. Czech local media in March last year reported that a Chinese diplomat had run a red light while following Hsiao’s car from the airport, and Czech intelligence last week told local media that Chinese diplomats and agents had also planned to stage a demonstrative car collision. Hsiao on Saturday shared a Reuters news report on the incident through her account on social media platform X and wrote: “I
SHIFT PRIORITIES: The US should first help Taiwan respond to actions China is already taking, instead of focusing too heavily on deterring a large-scale invasion, an expert said US Air Force leaders on Thursday voiced concerns about the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) missile capabilities and its development of a “kill web,” and said that the US Department of Defense’s budget request for next year prioritizes bolstering defenses in the Indo-Pacific region due to the increasing threat posed by China. US experts said that a full-scale Chinese invasion of Taiwan is risky and unlikely, with Beijing more likely to pursue coercive tactics such as political warfare or blockades to achieve its goals. Senior air force and US Space Force leaders, including US Secretary of the Air Force Troy Meink and
Czech officials have confirmed that Chinese agents surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March 2024 and planned a collision with her car as part of an “unprecedented” provocation by Beijing in Europe. Czech Military Intelligence learned that their Chinese counterparts attempted to create conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, which “did not go beyond the preparation stage,” agency director Petr Bartovsky told Czech Radio in a report yesterday. In addition, a Chinese diplomat ran a red light to maintain surveillance of the Taiwanese
RSS