Taipei Deputy Mayor Teng Chia-chi (鄧家基) and the heads of three counties attended the Straits Forum in China yesterday, despite a call by the Mainland Affairs Council not to go.
Teng was joined by Kinmen County Commissioner Yang Cheng-wu (楊鎮浯), Penghu County Commissioner Lai Feng-wei (賴峰偉) and Lienchiang County Commissioner Liu Tseng-ying (劉增應).
However, Teng would only attend the opening ceremony and not participate in any discussions, Taipei City Government deputy spokesman Ko Yu-an (柯昱安) said on Friday.
Photo: CNA
The council has said that the annual Straits Forum, which opened yesterday and runs through Friday in Xiamen, is being used by China to drum up support among Taiwanese.
The council late last month urged Taiwanese not to attend the forum, branding it part of Beijing’s scheme to annex Taiwan through its “united front” strategy.
The council warned that Taiwanese groups and citizens are not permitted to sign agreements or memorandums of understanding, strike deals or forge alliances with Chinese authorities.
The regulation also applies to public functionaries in the central and local governments, and affiliated companies, it said.
Yang on Friday said that he viewed the forum as an exchange platform and that he would be looking for development opportunities for his county.
Lai said that he was going to the event to discuss promoting tourism between the two sides, as well as fishery-related matters.
By Friday, more than 10,000 people from Taiwan had applied to attend the forum, Fujian Provincial Taiwan Affairs Office deputy director Zhong Zhigang (鍾志剛) said.
Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference National Committee chairman Wang Yang (汪洋) was planning to attend the event, as well as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Tseng Yung-chuan (曾永權) and representatives from the People First Party and the New Party, Zhong said.
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