A delegation of Chinese officials led by Shanghai Vice Mayor Hua Yuan (華源) arrived in Taipei yesterday for the annual Taipei-Shanghai Twin-City Forum, a rare Chinese visit at a time of heightened cross-strait military and political tension.
Hua arrived at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to attend today’s city-to-city forum, which was first held in 2010. He did not answer questions shouted at him by reporters.
Hua is leading a delegation of about 90 people attending the one-day event, which the Taipei mayor’s office said would see agreements signed on healthcare and red panda exchanges.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
A group from the pro-independence Taiwan Republic Office shouted “Taiwan and China, separate countries” as Hua left the airport.
“This forum is devoid of meaning, brings no benefit and has many detrimental effects for Taipei. China is using it for propaganda as part of ‘united front’ tactics against Taiwan,” Taiwan Republic Office director Chilly Chen (陳峻涵) said.
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) has denigrated himself, as Shanghai only sent its vice mayor, only the city’s third-ranking official, after its mayor and the Chinese Communist Party secretary of Shanghai, he added.
Photo: CNA
Chen said Chiang should raise with the visiting Chinese delegation the issue of dissident writer Li Yanhe (李延賀), who was arrested and remains incarcerated by Shanghai police when he visited the city to see his relatives in March last year.
On another side of an area cordoned off by police, the pro-China New Party and China Unification Promotion Party held their own gathering, waving welcome banners with a slogan saying: “Both sides need to hold exchanges for Taiwan to be safe.”
Chiang of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has said visits such as this are needed more than ever at times of tension.
Photo: CNA
The Chinese delegation has agreed to keep a “low profile” throughout their trip, the Mainland Affairs Council said.
The council last week blocked some members of the Shanghai delegation from attending, saying it was to protest against and express disapproval of China’s “22 guidelines” to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists.”
The council yesterday said the government was showing goodwill by allowing the forum to take place even in the face of the “still serious situation across the Taiwan Strait.”
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