The Taipei City Government yesterday announced that the Taipei-Shanghai Twin-City Forum is to be held on Tuesday in a “hybrid meeting” of the cities, with the theme of “resilience, sustainability and humanities.”
The forum would be held in the same hybrid meeting format as the past two years — with the two city mayors and city government officials in two venues meeting through videoconferencing due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Taipei City Government said.
With global warming driving natural disasters around the world, and as extreme weather can cause severe damage and threatens both cities, Taipei and Shanghai are striving to achieve sustainable development to become resilient and capable of adapting and facing disasters, it said.
Photo: CNA
The deputy mayors of the cities are each to give a speech on “energy saving and carbon reduction, and net zero emissions,” while sharing their cities’ policies and approaches to addressing climate change challenges, it said.
Based on the forum’s agenda, the meeting is to last about an hour, with the opening ceremony at 10:30am and the forum ending at 11:30am, making this year’s event the shortest since the first meeting in 2010.
At Taipei City Council meetings on Thursday and Friday, councilors asked Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) why the forum was being held, as the council in January passed a budget for the forum with a provision stating that “if the Chinese Communist Party’s [CCP] aircraft or warships continue to disturb Taiwan before the forum, the budget cannot be used.”
Ko brushed off the questions, saying that the definition of “CCP aircraft disturbing Taiwan” is unclear, and he also refused to confirm the date of the meeting.
Asked by Taipei City Councilor Lin Ying-meng (林穎孟) on Friday whether the mayor would express in his opening speech at the forum that Taiwan wants to be treated with “equal dignity” and that the CCP should not pursue a military attack, Ko said that he would.
Asked to elaborate on his speech plans, Ko yesterday said that Taiwan and China have close economic and trade relations.
Exports to China accounted for 42.3 percent of the total goods leaving Taiwan, but there is trouble when people of the two sides start to dislike each other, he said.
Moscow and Washington had a hotline during the Cold War, but Taiwan and China ignore each other, he said, adding that as there are more than 1 million Taiwanese in China and more than 300,000 Chinese spouses in Taiwan, there should still be communication between the two sides.
However, Ko said he had not added the demand of “Taiwan wanting equal dignity” to his speech, as the forum has always been about livelihood issues at the municipal level, and China has not intentionally taken advantage of Taiwan.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office yesterday issued a news release praising the Twin-City Forum as an important exchange platform between Taipei and Shanghai.
Enhancing exchanges and cooperation is what people want, the office said.
It also supports expanded and in-depth exchanges between the two cities to benefit compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, it added.
FUKUOKA SITUATION: Japanese media reported that the pathogen is expected to be identified by the summer, while the CDC downplayed the idea that it was hMPV A “mysterious cold-like illness” reported in Japan’s Fukuoka Prefecture does not seem to be a new disease, but Japanese authorities have been asked about the situation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The Fukuoka Prefectural Medical Association on Wednesday told a news conference that a “mystery cold” that has become a hot topic on social media is “highly likely to be caused by some kind of viral infection,” Japan’s KBC News reported. “Many people are experiencing symptoms starting with a sore throat, followed by a runny nose, phlegm and a severe cough,” KBC News reported, citing association officials. Health authorities are
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) arrived in Taiwan yesterday ahead of upcoming AI and technology events, saying he plans to meet with clients and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) during his visit. After landing at Taipei Songshan Airport, Huang posed for photos with fans and handed out Yakult drinks to reporters and supporters waiting at the scene, saying he has “a lot to do” during the trip. Asked about reports that Nvidia’s planned headquarters site in Taipei’s Beitou Shilin Technology Park could break ground on May 27, Huang said that if the company holds an event, he would
Carrefour Taiwan is to begin using a new name from the start of July, but it cannot divulge the name until then, the chairman of the supermarket chain's parent company said today. President Chain Store Co chairman Lo Chih-hsien (羅智先) was asked by reporters after a shareholders' meeting to confirm whether the company has settled on a new name for the supermarket brand. In March, the government-registered name of two Carrefour Taiwan branches was quietly changed to "Le Chia Kang" (樂家康) in Chinese, raising speculation that has been selected as the name. Lo said that because of local regulations and contractual obligations, the
The Philippines would likely be involved in any conflict over Taiwan due to its proximity to the democracy claimed by China, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said, reiterating a stance that risks angering Beijing. “In the Philippines, we do not have a choice because Taiwan is so close to the Philippines and we have almost 200,000 Filipino nationals living and working in Taiwan,” Marcos said in an interview with Japanese media in Manila on Monday. The Philippine leader’s comments come ahead of a state visit to Japan next week, where he is to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to discuss security
RSS