Ten members of a Shanghai delegation had their permits rejected to visit Taipei for the Taipei-Shanghai Twin City Forum starting on Tuesday next week, including that of Shanghai Municipal Taiwan Affairs Office Director Jin Mei (金梅) and nine media personnel, the Taipei City Government said today.
The city received news last night that of the 102 members of the Shanghai delegation led by Shanghai Vice Mayor Hua Yuan (華源), intended to land in Taiwan on Monday, only 92 have received permits, Taipei City Government spokesperson Yin Wei (殷瑋) told reporters.
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an's (蔣萬安) delegation to Shanghai last year was permitted to visit China for the event, so the city government hopes that Taiwan could afford the same treatment to the Shanghai delegation this year, he said.
Photo: Kan Meng-lin, Taipei Times
If the central government decides members of the delegation cannot visit the country, they should provide a good reason, Yin said.
Taiwanese have faith in the nation’s democratic tenacity and support a free press, but Chinese media are often barred from visiting Taiwan to the regret of the Taipei City Government, Yin said.
Additionally, the Mainland Affairs Council on Wednesday said that if China’s pressure on Taiwan continued to escalate, it could call to delay the forum at any time, while the Executive Yuan said yesterday that the decision would take into account a multitude of factors in deciding whether cross-strait tensions have intensified, Yin added.
In response, the council said that the central government considered each member's relevance, professional capability and necessity in visiting the forum.
It also took into account the overall state of cross-strait tensions, including the Chinese Communist Party’s increased military drills near Taiwan and the continued exclusion of Taiwan in international bodies, the council said.
This year, China issued a 22-point set of “guidelines” to penalize Taiwanese independence separatists — including the death penalty — among other extreme and hostile measures that impacted cross-strait relations and created safety risks for Taiwanese visiting China, it said.
Attendance of the media personnel in question was judged to be unnecessary, as eight media groups and 12 media personnel from China had already received permission to conduct interviews in Taiwan, it added.
Separately, Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-fong (林延鳳) said that in future budget reviews, councilors would not rule out a proviso for the city government to stop hosting the forums with Shanghai and instead arrange forums with other international cities.
In response, Yin said that Taipei City Government’s exchanges with Shanghai and other international cities are not mutually exclusive.
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