Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je held the last Taipei-Shanghai forum of his mayoral administration earlier this week. Namely, Ko is at the end of his second term as Taipei mayor, and cannot run for another. Due to the effects of COVID-19 on global travel, Ko did not attend in person, as the event was held virtually for the third year in a row...
The annual Taipei-Shanghai Forum took place online for the second year in a row, given the current COVID-19 pandemic. Compared to past years, there was probably less fanfare than before. This is not only because of the online format, but because of the way that the forum is tied to Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je’s political career, as a Ko initiative. That being said, there was some controversy about the cost of the 1,390,000 NT expense of the forum, when it was expected that the forum would be cheaper this year due to the online format...