Taiwan's main political parties are criticizing each other ahead of the Shanghai-Taipei Twin Cities Forum after the Shanghai delegation excluded Taiwanese politicians critical of Beijing from a lunch invitation.
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00:00A lunch at the upcoming Taipei-Shanghai forum is coming with a side of controversy in Taiwan.
00:06Shanghai's delegation has excluded members of Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party,
00:10or DPP, from a meal it will host for Taiwanese officials during the forum, starting on Tuesday.
00:16The forum is one of the few remaining cross-strait exchanges between Taiwan and China, and the
00:20DPP, which views Taiwan as a sovereign country, a stance opposed by China, has criticized
00:25the decision.
00:26This is obviously a selective invitation.
00:31Isn't the so-called more controversy there is, the more exchanges there are?
00:35Isn't that why you're breaking the law?
00:38But opposition lawmakers from Taiwan's Kuomintang, or KMT, who favor closer relations with China
00:44and were invited to the meal, questioned why DPP officials would want to come.
00:48The members of the DPP usually talk to each other without a word.
00:52If they don't want to talk, why come to this meal?
00:55The debate over lunch is just the latest controversy in an annual event held every
00:59year since 2010.
01:01This year's forum is the first to take place in Taipei since the pandemic.
01:05While some Chinese officials have already arrived, Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council
01:09rejected 10 members of Shanghai's delegation last week, including Jin Mei, the official
01:13in charge of the city's Taiwan policies.
01:16A high-ranking Taiwan Straits Exchange Foundation official has urged Taipei's mayor to address
01:21the recent arrests of three Taiwanese nationals in China, as well as the 2023 arrest of a
01:25Taiwan-based publisher during the forum.
01:28However, the mayor's spokesperson has suggested that such issues are not his responsibility.
01:45While it remains unclear whether other cross-strait issues will be brought up during this year's
01:49forum, Shanghai and Taipei are expected to sign agreements on smart medical care and
01:54zoo animal exchanges.
01:56But with every part of this visit proving contentious, any deals signed are sure to
02:00come under scrutiny.
02:02Ryan Wu and Cadence Quaranta for Taiwan Plus.