A delegation of Chinese officials led by a deputy Shanghai mayor arrived in Taipei today for an annual city-to-city forum.
Shanghai Vice Mayor Hua Yuan (華源) arrived at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to attend tomorrow's Taipei-Shanghai Twin-City Forum, which was first held in 2010, and did not answer questions shouted at him by reporters.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
A small group from the pro-independence Taiwan Republic Office shouted "Taiwan and China, separate countries" as he left the airport.
"There is no goodwill. The communist bandits continue to hold military drills," Chilly Chen, the head of the group, told Reuters.
Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安), from the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), has said visits like this are needed more than ever at times of tension.
Chiang, who visited Shanghai last year for the same city forum, is to host Hua at a banquet in the evening.
Taiwan's government last week blocked some members of the Shanghai delegation from attending, saying given China's stepped up military threats it had to take into account "the overall situation" when granting permission for the visit.
The government on Friday last week also demanded that China release three members of a Taiwanese religious group arrested while in the country.
China says they are suspected of organizing an underground cult.
The Mainland Affairs Council today said the government was showing goodwill by allowing the forum to take place, even in the face of the "still serious situation across the Taiwan Strait."
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