This year’s Taipei-Shanghai City Forum is going to take place in video conference form. That was the word from Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je on Wednesday.
Ko said that the forum has been held annually for ten years now, so there is no reason to suspend it this year. He said that it the videoconference format being adopted this year is a convenient way of sidestepping concerns about COVID-19.
However, it remains unclear what platform will be used to host the video conference. Taiwan cannot use China’s Huawei, while China cannot use Google. Ko says discussions on how to resolve this issue are still ongoing.
Ko also says that he has been under great pressure as he organizes this year’s forum. That’s because of a controversial national security law governing Hong Kong that has added to cross-strait tensions.
He says people may think he is too friendly towards Beijing, but too much cross-strait animosity is not good, as cross-strait economic ties remain close. He says that even if the two sides have different stances on cross-strait issues, they should continue exchanges to build goodwill.