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.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard