The future of this year’s Taipei-Shanghai forum remained uncertain following Shanghai Deputy Mayor Weng Tiehui’s (翁鐵慧) visit to Taipei City Hall yesterday.
After emerging from talks with Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), Weng confirmed that they had discussed the forum, but added that discussions on whether it would be held were still “ongoing.”
She only accepted questions from Chinese reporters before departing after a Taiwanese reporter asked a question related to the Falun Gong, a group outlawed by the Chinese government.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Taipei and Shanghai have taken turns hosting the annual city forum since it was organized in 2010.
“We are still in the process of holding discussions on the forum,” Ko said. “For something this important, there are a lot of details.”
He said the forum would be easy to hold, because both sides were clear about the “main direction.”
Weng’s visit came two months after Taipei Deputy Mayor Chou Li-fang (周麗芳) made a trip to Shanghai in May and followed rumors that forum talks are stalled over Chinese demands that Taipei demonstrate greater “goodwill” by stating acceptance of the so-called “1992 consensus.”
The “1992 consensus” refers to a supposed understanding reached during cross-strait talks in 1992 that both Taiwan and China acknowledge that there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation of what “China” means.
Ko said that while the Shanghai officials had “expressed their thoughts” on the “1992 consensus,” he still feels that his own “2015 viewpoint,” emphasizing mutual respect, understanding and cooperation, was the “new foundation” for cross-strait exchanges.
He said the “2015 viewpoint” was acceptable to both sides, adding that he “respected” and “understood” the Chinese position on the “1992 consensus.”
On the issue of whether Shanghai officials had demanded greater “goodwill,” Ko said that the talks had focused on city governance issues, with both sides expressing goodwill without setting absolute conditions for talks.
The goodwill he had expressed was “further interchanges while increasing goodwill,” he said, repeating a previous formula.
“Because we understand their position, we will not purposefully create inconvenience for them,” he said, in response to questions on whether the city government had changed the administrative unit responsible for hosting the Shanghai delegation.
Media reports said that while the city government’s International Affairs Division was initially responsible, the Press Relations Division had taken over after the Shanghai delegation protested.
Taipei City Government spokesman Sydney Lin (林鶴明) said Taipei’s “mainland affairs working group” was responsible for hosting the delegation, denying that there had been any change.
“In Taiwan, there are more novelists than reporters, and rumors are what our nation lacks the least,” Ko said when asked whether he had hosted “secret emissaries” from China.
Using “secret emissary” to describe someone we had a “chat” with would be too serious, he said.
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