The Chinese mainland spokesperson on Tuesday condemned Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities for deliberately blocking mainland participation in the 2024 Shanghai-Taipei City Forum. This obstruction led to the exclusion of several delegates and journalists from the event.
Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, made these remarks in response to a media inquiry about the recently concluded forum, which has been alternately hosted by Shanghai and Taipei since 2010.
This year's forum featured meaningful discussions between representatives from both cities, resulting in the signing of two memoranda of understanding aimed at fostering further collaboration, Zhu noted.
\"The actions taken by the DPP authorities are unreasonable and widely unpopular,\" Zhu stated. She added that the mainland will continue to work with Taiwan residents to promote cross-Straits exchanges, cooperation, and integration.
Regarding Hua Yuan, deputy mayor of Shanghai's speech at the forum's opening ceremony expressing the city's intention to promote group tours for Shanghai residents to Taiwan, Zhu reaffirmed the mainland's consistent support for normalizing cross-Straits exchanges, including tourism.
\"We look forward to the early resumption of travel to Taiwan for mainland residents, including those from Shanghai,\" she said, urging the DPP authorities to lift restrictions that hinder cross-Straits exchanges and cooperation.
Reference(s):
China's Mainland slams DPP for obstructing Shanghai-Taipei City Forum
cgtn.com
