TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) has departed for the Shanghai-Taipei City Forum in China and said that maintaining dialogue is the only way to maintain stability across the Taiwan Strait.

Chiang left on Tuesday morning (Aug. 29) and is expected to be received by Shanghai Deputy Mayor Hua Yuan (華源), after which he will meet with Shanghai Mayor Gong Zheng (龔正). Chiang wrote on social media before he departed Taiwan that the forum conveys the value of peace and the urgent need for dialogue in cross-strait relations.

“No matter the changes to (Taiwan’s) political parties and politics, or whether cross-strait relations are good or bad, the Shanghai-Taipei City Forum has enabled continued dialogue between these two modern cities,” Chiang said.

Chiang said that both sides of the strait can stabilize trade interaction through economic agreements they have signed, but more dialogue was needed given recent trade tensions. “Rest assured, our ambition to cherish democracy, maintain peace, and create prosperity remains unchanged,” Chiang said.

The forum was launched in 2010 by then Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-pin (郝龍斌), and the host city alternates between Taipei and Shanghai. This year’s forum runs from Aug. 29-31, with the theme “new trends, new developments.”