The Taipei City Government today announced that it would delay this year’s Taipei-Shanghai Twin-City Forum, originally set to run from Thursday to Saturday in Shanghai.
The city would not host the event “for the sake of it,” it said in a surprise announcement, adding that “hosting it well is more important than hosting it early.”
The forum — the only ongoing platform for dialogue between cross-strait officials — required more preparation, planning and consideration, after which a new date would be announced to the public, the city government said.
Photo: Taipei Times
As the annual event holds great significance in cross-strait relations, there must be further administrative and technical review of items such as the signing of two memorandums of understanding (MOUs) and the content of specific talks, it said.
Both sides agreed to postpone the event, the statement said.
“At a time when cross-strait relations are at their most fraught, dialogue must be all the more stable and comprehensive,” it said, adding that it would not lower standards due to external time constraints, but instead prioritize the interests of its citizens and the city’s long-term development.
The city government would continue to ensure that the forum can promote further understanding, build mutual trust and bring concrete and meaningful outcomes to its citizens, it added.
Taipei vowed to continue to advance exchanges and cooperation with Shanghai in the spirit of the forum, saying that when the two cities prosper, cross-strait relations prosper.
It also vowed to uphold the core principles of equality, dignity, goodwill and reciprocity.
After the announcement, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei councilors accused the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and President William Lai’s (賴清德) government of “blocking” the forum.
As with previous iterations, this year’s forum would involve signing MOUs, which require careful handling by multiple government agencies and ministries, and review by the relevant authorities, DPP Taipei City Councilor Sabrina Lim (林亮君) said, adding that even greater caution must be taken in exchanges with China.
The drafting process of the MOUs was rushed and the MAC cannot be expected to approve them without adequate review, she said.
The MAC in a statement rebuffed accusations that the council had purposefully delayed the forum as “completely false.”
The council reviewed the two MOUs in accordance with regulations and the Ministry of the Interior this morning approved travel permits for the delegation, it said.
The city government has withdrawn the applications and plans to resubmit at a later date, it added.
Additional reporting by Chen Yu-fu and CNA
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