Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/08/22
By: Sunrise Huang, Chen Chia-lun, Ku Chuan, Chu Tse-wei and Evelyn Kao
Ko Wen-je (柯文哲, left), Sha Hailin (沙海林)

Taipei, Aug. 22 (CNA) Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Monday hailed the upcoming twin-city forum between Taipei and Shanghai as an opportunity to break the stalemate in official cross-Taiwan Strait exchanges seen in recent months.

Ko made the comment after Sha Hailin (沙海林), director of the Department of United Front Work of the Communist Party’s Shanghai Municipal Committee, arrived in Taiwan to attend the forum scheduled for Tuesday.

Sha and his delegation were greeted at Taipei Songshan Airport by a protest organized by the pro-independence Taiwan Solidarity Union but they were also welcomed by aboriginal people from Jianshi Township in Hsinchu County.

Some 100 city policemen were mobilized to maintain order at the airport.