Mayor Lai: 2 Messages Delivered On Shanghai Trip

Source: Wun-Bo Huang, China Times, June 9, 2014 17:31 

After stepping on the soil of Mainland China for the first time on the 6th this month, Tainan City Mayor William Lai held a press conference on his return today. He emphasized that the main purpose of his Shanghai trip was to deliver two messages to the other side – first, Taiwan’s different voice, and second, seeking commonalities while respecting differences. He expected closer exchanges between Tainan and Shanghai cities in the future in order to expand agricultural and medical tourism in Tainan.

Mayor Lai expressed his gratitude for the hospitable reception of relevant parties during this trip. He was full of praise for Mr. Yu-Liang Yang, President of Fudan University, who he saw as highly cultured; and the vision of municipal governance of the Shanghai mayor. The trip has proved very beneficial for him, and built the foundation and consensus for mutual exchanges.

He said that his previous impression of Shanghai was an economically, industrially and commercially developed city, but in this trip he witnessed that the streets of Shanghai were in good order and full of green plants and flowers, like Singapore. He was much impressed by the massive construction projects everywhere in this municipality of 24 million residents.

Mayor Lai pointed out that apart from promoting his culture and city, the greatest reward on the Shanghai trip was his dialogue with the President of Fudan University on the topics of Taiwan’s independence, the June 4th incident, and the sunflower student movement, which gave the other side a chance to hear another voice from Taiwan, and facilitated cross-strait exchanges and mutual understanding.

He also mentioned the second message he delivered on this trip, which is, there would certainly be commonalities and differences between the two sides across the Taiwan Strait. In the past, only differences were tackled and often led to frustration; in his current visit, he stressed that both sides should look forward to seeking common ground while allowing differences to develop naturally. In this way exchanges and interaction could be carried out, improving cross-strait relations.

In addition to cultural exchanges between the two cities, a ‘Medical Tourism Fair’ was held in Sunrise on the Bund Hotel in Puxi District of Shanghai. Sheng-Che Lin, Director of Tainan City Department of Health, said that the promotion fair applied an integrated marketing strategy to promote Tainan’s medical institutions including 6 hospitals that provide high-end medical health check, 12 cosmetic medical clinics, and 4 dental clinics, and took the opportunity to show the medical standards of Tainan City.