What you need to know
Since 2010, Taipei and Shanghai have held city forums to carry out practical exchanges. There have been nineteen MOUs signed between the two cities and four more will be added on today.
The Taipei Shanghai City Forum is being held today and Taipei Mayor Ke Wen-zhe emphasized on the 2015 New Perspective regarding cross-strait cooperation. Ke also mentioned increasing interaction between public services and transport ticketing services, and welcomes Shanghai citizens to use EasyCards in Taipei.
CNA reports, the forum was held at the Ruijin Hotel in Shanghai this morning and a total of around two hundred people attended. Each participant was gifted an EasyCard designed specifically for the event by the EasyCard Corporation.
Shanghai Mayor Yang Xiong said in his speech that there is a deep friendship between Shanghai and Taipei. Since 2010, the two cities have held forums to carry out practical exchanges. There have been nineteen MOUs signed between the two cities and four more will be added on today.
Yang says, Taipei has many concepts that are worth learning from, such as urban construction, health services, cultural heritage development and so on. He also says Shanghai is working actively to build foreign trade zones, technology innovation centers and so on to create more space for cross-strait cooperation.
Ke said in his speech the EasyCard cooperation will bring great convenience in the future. He also hopes to see better cross-strait relation built on current political basis and promote a peaceful development. This is what Ke calls the “2015 New Perspective."
The “2015 New Perspective" was presented by Ke on March 30 this year in an interview,
“In reality, no one thinks that there are two China’s today. So the problem does not lie with “one China." What’s more important is, what does the so-called one China entail? This is what the world is more concerned about. Take the current situation in Taiwan for example. Many Taiwanese people are still unclear about the content of the 1992 consensus, even I didn’t know in the past. I think the most important factor in cross-strait relations is content, not symbols. Therefore I believe, having respect for previous cross-strait agreements, mutual understanding, respect and cooperating is what leaders on both sides must do so that everyone is able to pursue a better future. I think one shouldn’t emphasize certain words or symbols, but pay more attention to essential content. That’s the belief I hold now."
In the two days to come, Ke will visit four warehouses, the CPC National Congress and other historical buildings. He says, “In front of these great historical buildings, human beings seem so small."
Translated by Olivia Yang and Sarah Grasdijk
Edited by Olivia Yang
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