Taiwan’s Kuomintang to send delegation to mainland China forum despite ‘warning’ from Taipei
- Group led by party vice-chairman Tseng Yung-chuan will take part in opening ceremony on Sunday, spokeswoman says
- Island’s government said last month Beijing was using the event to drum up support for Xi Jinping’s plan to reunify Taiwan
Taiwan’s main opposition party Kuomintang (KMT) will send a delegation to a cross-strait forum in mainland China this weekend despite warnings from the island’s government that it risks being disbanded if it engages in political talks or signs any agreements during the event.
The Straits Forum in Xiamen, southeast China’s Fujian province, was first held in 2009 – when Taiwan was ruled by a KMT government – as a platform for cultural cooperation and economic exchanges between the two sides.
Chen Mei-hua, the party’s deputy spokeswoman, said on Wednesday that the delegation attending the 11th annual event, which opens on Saturday, would be led by KMT vice-chairman Tseng Yung-chuan and include several other senior officials. Although the forum is set to run for a week, she said most members of the KMT group would be present only for the opening ceremony.
“We will only attend the official opening ceremony to be held on Sunday,” she said, adding that most of the delegates would return to Taiwan later the same day.
The visit would be brief because of the restrictions announced recently by Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on individuals and political groups attending the event, Chen said.