Dark cross-strait clouds hang over Shanghai-Taipei forum as officials call for respect
Visiting Shanghai official insists visit is “transparent” as Taiwanese protesters keep up campaign against him
Anti-mainland protests continued to dog a top Shanghai official in Taipei on Tuesday as an annual cross-strait city forum took place under the shadow of worsening relations between Beijing and the island.
Protesters shouted “Expel Sha Hailin” and “Expel propaganda communist” outside the hotel hosting the Shanghai-Taipei City Forum.
Three agreements between the two cities were signed on the event’s opening day, including cooperation deals on film festivals and marathons.
Sha, who is attending the forum, is a member of the Communist Party’s Standing Committee in Shanghai and head of the city’s United Front Work Department.
Addressing the conference, Sha said his trip to the island was “open and transparent” and called for mutual understanding and respect. He stressed that the forum was not being held in a “foreign city”.
Some Taiwanese who opposed the forum either lacked understanding of the actual situation or did it on purpose