The “two sides of the [Taiwan] Strait are one family,” Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) reiterated yesterday at the opening ceremony of the Taipei-Shanghai twin-city forum, the third time he has used the phrase in Shanghai, while Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong (應勇) said that “the compatriots of both sides of the Strait are family members that wish each other well and love each other.”
“We have always held on to the belief that both sides of the Strait are one family,” Ying added.
Ko used the phrase, which has been criticized by pro-independence and other pan-green supporters, for the first time in his speech to the 2015 twin-city forum, and again at the 2017 forum.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei City Government
In his speech yesterday, the Taipei mayor noted that it was the 10th year the forum has been held and 33 memorandums of understanding have been signed, on a wide variety of issues, during the forums.
The original goal of the forum was for people on both sides of the Strait to have more chances to communicate with one another, to enhance goodwill toward each other and move toward positive cross-strait relations, he said.
“There should be continuity in the exchanges between both, and policies should have stability. We should respect the agreements that were signed and the history of our interactions,” Ko said.
“We should continue to push peaceful development of the two sides of the Strait on the existing political foundation, and together pursue a better future for the people of the two sides,” he said.
He has always believed that “an attitude of mutual trust” and the concept of “two sides of the Strait are one family” can help promote exchanges and enhance goodwill on both sides, he said.
Repeating his “five mutual principles” as his approach to enhance the well-being of people on both sides, Ko also he wanted to push for exchanges so that “everyone can get along with each other peacefully and for the people to live a better life, because after all, a peaceful development for both sides is a common wish.”
Asked by Taiwanese reporters after the ceremony to explain his “one family” idea, Ko said that “it is an expression of attitude, meaning ‘we will be friendly to your people, but we want you to be friendly to Taiwanese’” in return.
The Chinese-language China Times yesterday reported that Ko told Shanghai government officials, who greeted him at the airport on Wednesday, that Chinese government officials wanting to visit Taipei face many obstacles, which is an unhealthy situation for which he does not yet have a solution.
Later in the day the National Immigration Agency released a statement saying that the 94.57 percent of applications to visit Taiwan submitted by Chinese officials and professionals in the first five months of the year had been approved, and the approval rate last year was 94.46 percent, so the government was not making it difficult for Chinese officials to visit.
Additional reporting by CNA
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to