The Taipei City Government is being secretive about the itinerary of a Chinese delegation led by Shanghai’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Deputy Director Li Xiaodong (李驍東), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors said yesterday.
The delegation arrived in Taipei yesterday, with plans to visit Taiwan Lantern Festival sites and exchange ideas with city officials.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Wednesday said it had approved an application by the city government to invite the delegation for a three-day visit.
Photo: Carlos Garcia Rawlins, Reuters
DPP city councilors Ho Meng-hua (何孟樺), Chien Shu-pei (簡舒培) and Chen E-jun (陳怡君) yesterday said that prior to the delegation’s arrival, they had asked the city government to provide its itinerary, but the Taipei Secretariat Office told them that the itinerary was still being arranged.
Ho on Friday evening posted a three-day itinerary on Facebook, writing that the city government was refusing to make it public, exhibiting Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) fear of protests.
The city government must defend the nation’s sovereignty during the delegation’s visit, she wrote.
In a post yesterday, Ho wrote that the delegation arrived at about 11am, but the city government was still claiming that the itinerary was being arranged.
The city government is clearly being deceptive, as it has already said that the itinerary had gained the MAC’s approval and that the central government’s cross-strait policies would be upheld, she wrote.
Ho asked if the secrecy was because Chiang does not want people to know what he discusses with the delegation.
Chiang should explain the situation, and apologize to the public and the council, she wrote.
Chien asked if the city government was keeping the itinerary a secret because it is afraid people will protest the delegation.
The city government’s excuse about the itinerary “being arranged” is similar to what former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said before the Taipei-Shanghai forum, she said, asking if there was a “hidden agenda” behind the visit, as there was in Ko’s administration.
The city should show “mutual respect” and “equal dignity” regardless of what delegation is visiting, and it should avoid self-deprecating and underhand dealings, she said.
Separately, Taiwan Republic Office director Chilly Chen (陳峻涵) led a demonstration at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), with members of the Taiwan Statebuilding Party, including its chairman, Wang Hsing-huan (王興煥).
“Taiwanese will fight against enslavement under Chinese rule,” Chen said. “We are opposed to opening the door to Shanghai TAO officials, whose conduct is the same as Beijing’s — treating Taiwan as a Chinese province and declaring the willingness to use force to take over.”
“Taipei City Government officials helped expedite the process to approve the delegation, permitting Li and his delegation to enter Taiwan,” he said. “This shows the inherently evil nature of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which has colluded with the Chinese Communist Party to betray Taiwanese by accepting Beijing’s rule under the false premise that China has sovereignty over Taiwan.”
“Unfortunately, the KMT has many such traitors, who identify as Chinese,” he said.
Wang said that Li is not welcome in Taiwan.
“China has escalated its military intimidation and made plans for war against Taiwan,” Wang said. “It is not possible to have normal talks and interactions with an enemy state that seeks to kill Taiwanese.”
“We must refuse this delegation and its plan to conduct ‘united front’ work,” he said. “This is a political issue, not a mere meeting between government officials.”
Additional reporting by Jason Pan and CNA
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