By Chu Pei-hsiung and Fion Khan / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Central Review Committee chairman Lee Wei-hwa (李偉華) today led a delegation on a four-day visit to Shanghai, marking the party’s first official trip to China since its founding.
Speaking to reporters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport this morning, Lee said he hoped that the trip would foster goodwill through exchange and replace confrontation with dialogue, promoting cross-strait engagement while preserving Taiwan’s democratic and free political system and way of life.
Amid shifting cross-strait and international dynamics, maintaining communication is even more critical during times marked by division, Lee said.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
While the TPP advocates for “Taiwanese autonomy and cross-strait peace,” the party understands the challenges posed by historical, political and security factors, and therefore has a responsibility to seek a stable, pragmatic and peaceful path that reduces the risk of war, he said.
Citing the principles of TPP founder and former chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), Lee said he hoped the visit would reduce misunderstandings through contact and increase mutual understanding through dialogue, with the goal of gradually establishing a long-term, stable cross-strait relationship.
Cross-strait exchanges should be promoted through communication and equality under the prerequisite of maintaining Taiwan’s democratic and free political system and way of life, he said.
The principles of “mutual recognition, mutual understanding, mutual respect, mutual cooperation and mutual forbearance” should be upheld during cross-strait exchanges, Lee said.
The Taipei-Shanghai Twin-City Forum, held during Ko’s tenure as Taipei mayor, was a successful example of enhancing mutual understanding through exchange and dialogue, he added.
The delegation of three party staffers and five youth division members is scheduled to visit major economic infrastructure projects, historical sites, technology firms and youth entrepreneurship hubs in Shanghai, Lee said.
The group is also scheduled to visit Shanghai Jiao Tong University and hold discussions with young local people, he said, adding that youth exchange is a key focus of the trip.
Lee said he hoped increased interaction, discussion and understanding would help build goodwill and mutual trust among young people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and create more opportunities for peaceful exchanges.