Taipei, Shanghai rebuilding old connection

Recently, a series of exchanges has taken place reflecting the strong nature of people-to-people connections that had already existed for many years.

Reports have estimated that hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese businesspeople and investors reside in the greater Shanghai area, many of whom have taken their families to live with them.

Last June, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin made a visit to Shanghai, where he was received by top officials including the city's Mayor Han Zhengyuan.

During the visit, Mayor Han orally accepted Mayor Hau's invitation to make a reciprocal trip to Taipei sometime this year.

The Shanghai mayor had been expected to visit Taipei last June, but the trip had to be delayed amid the global financial crisis.

Now that the financial crisis has finally shown signs of subsiding, the Shanghai mayor is expected to make good on his promise to visit Taiwan before year's end.

Reports have recently suggested that Mayor Han's trip might be delayed due to the recent visit to Taiwan by the Dalai Lama.

Observers have also claimed that the screening of a documentary on Uighur independence activist Rebiya Kadeer at a Kaohsiung film festival will force Mayor Han to cancel his trip.

Hopefully these rumors will not prove to be true.

After all, leaders in mainland China should be informed enough about Taiwan by now to realize that our government is simply not in a position where it can dicate who should visit the island or what movies can be shown here.

And while many people may sympathize with the views of the Dalai Lama, they are also still overwhelmingly in favor of increasing exchanges with mainland China.

Next month, the “Shanghai Cultural Week” will take place in northern Taiwan featuring a series of exhibitions and performances by talented individuals and groups from Shanghai.

Attending the “Shanghai Cultural Week” would be the most opportune time for the Shanghai mayor to finally visit Taipei and he would be wise to take advantage of it.

Many people do not realize that the fates of Taipei and Shanghai have long been intertwined.

Before the 1949 fall of mainland China to communist forces, Shanghai was seen as the leading economic hub of the entire region, surpassing Hong Kong and Tokyo.

Much of Taiwan's popular culture during the early twentieth century, when Taiwan was still ruled by Japan, was heavily influenced by Shanghai's movies and popular music.

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