Tokyo governor visits, asks Taipei to host mayoral confab

Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou met Sept. 8 with Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, in town on a four-day visit, to discuss Taipei's hosting of the Asian Network of Major Cities 21 (ANMC) annual meeting in 2006 after plans to hold this year's conference in Beijing fell into disarray when the seat of China's authoritarian government abruptly pulled out.

Ma said he was surprised by Beijing's sudden withdrawal and said this decision "might not help Beijing to win more friendship" around the world, but he dismissed speculation that Beijing cancelled plans to host the meeting to protest the group's decision to hold its 2006 summit in Taipei.

"We will focus our efforts on preparing for next year's ANMC, and Taipei City will be more than happy to invite Beijing and Shanghai to the event," said the mayor.

The ANMC was founded by Ishihara in 2001 as a forum where the mayors of large Asian cities could discuss common challenges and intercity cooperation. The cities of Bangkok, New Delhi, Hanoi, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo, Yangon and, until recently, Beijing have taken turns hosting the yearly summits.

Taipei launched a bid to host the 2005 ANMC meeting in July 2004. Just days before the group met in Jakarta last November, Beijing kicked off a hard-sell lobbying effort for the right to hold the meeting, reportedly as a means of scuttling Taipei's chances.

As a compromise, the group's representatives agreed that Beijing would be allowed to host the 2005 meeting, and that Taipei would have that honor the following year, in 2006. The consensus was unanimous except for one vote, that of Beijing's Deputy Mayor Zhang Mao, who walked out of the meeting to protest the compromise. Despite Ishihara's best efforts to convince Beijing to endorse a joint statement, it has so far refused.

"China is a country that does not play by the rules," Ishihara was reported as saying in a local newspaper. At a recent Tokyo news conference, Ishihara criticized Beijing's abrupt withdrawal from the group and its refusal to endorse the ANMC joint statement, saying such "rudeness and unreasonableness" ran counter to international rules and norms.

With Beijing's Aug. 30 withdrawal wrecking the arrangements for this year's conference, Ishihara traveled to Taiwan in order to ensure that the next meeting takes place and to seek Ma's support for hosting it this year, it was widely reported. The governor asked Taipei to move ahead its schedule so that the next meeting, though taking place in 2006, will not be too far removed from the last one.

"Time constraints are the biggest concern over Taipei hosting the ANMC this year," Ma said after his talk with the governor. "Mr. Ishihara and I have agreed to move next year's ANMC forward to March or April, and the city government will budget for the event," he added.

Prior to meeting with Ma, Ishihara sat down with President Chen Shui-bian Sept. 7 to exchange opinions on Beijing's withdrawal from the ANMC 21. Chen said the ROC government would provide any support that Taipei City Hall might need in order to host the event.

When asked if Beijing had dropped out of the meeting with the explicit intention of repressing Taipei, Ma reportedly denied the allegation, and said the city will focus on assisting the ANMC to solve the problems caused by Beijing's withdrawal.

"We were also surprised to learn of Beijing's sudden withdrawal, but we don't want to speculate on the reasons for the move. The focus now is to see what we can do to help resolve the issue," he said.