Shanghai Delegation Excludes DPP Politicians From Twin City Lunch

TaiwanPlus News

Taiwan's main political parties are criticizing each other ahead of the Shanghai-Taipei Twin Cities Forum after the Shanghai delegation excluded Taiwanese politicians critical of Beijing from a lunch invitation.

Transcript

00:00A lunch at the upcoming Taipei-Shanghai forum is coming with a side of controversy in Taiwan.

00:06Shanghai's delegation has excluded members of Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party,

00:10or DPP, from a meal it will host for Taiwanese officials during the forum, starting on Tuesday.

00:16The forum is one of the few remaining cross-strait exchanges between Taiwan and China, and the

00:20DPP, which views Taiwan as a sovereign country, a stance opposed by China, has criticized

00:25the decision.

00:26This is obviously a selective invitation.

00:31Isn't the so-called more controversy there is, the more exchanges there are?

00:35Isn't that why you're breaking the law?

00:38But opposition lawmakers from Taiwan's Kuomintang, or KMT, who favor closer relations with China

00:44and were invited to the meal, questioned why DPP officials would want to come.

00:48The members of the DPP usually talk to each other without a word.

00:52If they don't want to talk, why come to this meal?

00:55The debate over lunch is just the latest controversy in an annual event held every

00:59year since 2010.

01:01This year's forum is the first to take place in Taipei since the pandemic.

01:05While some Chinese officials have already arrived, Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council

01:09rejected 10 members of Shanghai's delegation last week, including Jin Mei, the official

01:13in charge of the city's Taiwan policies.

01:16A high-ranking Taiwan Straits Exchange Foundation official has urged Taipei's mayor to address

01:21the recent arrests of three Taiwanese nationals in China, as well as the 2023 arrest of a

01:25Taiwan-based publisher during the forum.

01:28However, the mayor's spokesperson has suggested that such issues are not his responsibility.

01:45While it remains unclear whether other cross-strait issues will be brought up during this year's

01:49forum, Shanghai and Taipei are expected to sign agreements on smart medical care and

01:54zoo animal exchanges.

01:56But with every part of this visit proving contentious, any deals signed are sure to

02:00come under scrutiny.

02:02Ryan Wu and Cadence Quaranta for Taiwan Plus.

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