The Taipei City Council has agreed to freeze the budget for an annual cross-strait forum with Shanghai if Chinese military maneuvers near Taiwan continue.
Beijing has sent regular, sometimes daily sorties of warplanes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone for several years. An incursion in the zone on Sunday was the second-largest so far, with 39 Chinese warplanes involved. Chinese naval vessels have also been spotted near Taiwan.
As the Taipei City Council worked to settle the city’s 2022 budget over the past week, the money set aside for the Taipei-Shanghai forum became a particular spot of contention. The Democratic Progress Party’s contingent in the council proposed scrapping funding for the forum entirely, citing China’s military incursions. But the council’s KMT and New Party contingent wanted to keep the funding in place.
After six days of discussion, the council agreed on a final yearly budget on Monday, setting aside more than NT$1.3 million (US$47,000) for the forum with Shanghai. But both sides agreed that the Taipei City Government won’t be allowed to disburse the funds for this year’s forum if China continues its military moves near Taiwan.