“If you’re a retired person, you should spend half the year in Taipei and the other half in Shanghai, because both cities are so attractive,” said well-known economist and founder of Commonwealth Publishing Co. Gao Xi-jun. Gao spoke after listening to speeches at the Taipei-Shanghai City Forum in Taipei in April this year. The forum was organized by the Taipei City Government and focused on cooperation between the two cities.
The speeches at the forum were made by Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin and his counterpart from Shanghai, Han Zheng. Han’s speech came on the first day of his four-day trip to Taipei.
Two months after the Taipei forum, it became more convenient for Taiwanese to follow Gao’s suggestion to begin spending more time in Shanghai, as a new cross-strait air link was established in June between Taipei Songshan Airport near downtown Taipei and Hongqiao Airport in downtown Shanghai. The new route shortens travel time between downtown areas of the cities from around three-and-a-half hours to 90 minutes.
With Taiwan receiving a visit by the mayor of one of mainland China’s large, powerful special municipalities for the first time and the opening of the Songshan-Hongqiao link, this year has seen big strides in the relationship between two of the most important metropolises on either side of the Taiwan Strait. “The progress we’re making today is a cornerstone of a cooperative relationship between Taipei and Shanghai,” Hau said of the signing of four intercity memorandums of understanding (MOU) in April. The MOUs focused on cooperation in cultural affairs, tourism, environmental protection and technology. “I hope the close interaction between the two cities will help them both keep prospering for the next 50 years,” Hau added.
This year has seen plenty of other examples of cooperation between Taipei and Shanghai. During the six-month 2010 Shanghai Expo, which ended in October, the Taipei Pavilion not only gave visitors a taste of the quality and vitality of life in Taipei, but also introduced them to the city’s achievements in broadband communications and recycling. Meanwhile, Shanghai has set up the Shanghai Charm area at the Taipei International Flora Expo, which started in early November and will run through April 25 next year.
In late June this year, people in Shanghai also gained an opportunity to experience some of Taiwan’s cultural offerings during the Taipei Culture Week, which featured some of the island’s top-notch performance groups such as U-Theater, the Taipei Symphony Orchestra and Taiwanese opera troupe Ming Hwa Yuan. The latter attracted an audience of 25,000 with its signature open-air performance entitled Legend of the White Snake, which is renowned for its extraordinary stage technology.
The five-day Shanghai-Taipei Cultural and Creative Industry Expo, which was co-organized by the Taipei City Government’s Department of Cultural Affairs, was also held in Shanghai in June. More than 200 companies took part in the expo, with 145 businesses from Taipei and 58 from Shanghai. “I got more than a few group purchase orders from both the Taiwanese and mainland China organizers of the event,” says Tony Tseng, chief executive officer of Taipei-based Artilize Worldwide Co, one of the participating businesses from Taiwan.
Accompanied by Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin, left, Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng explores Taipei’s subway system in April. The interaction between the two cities has become closer following Han’s visit. (Photo by Central News Agency)
Meanwhile, according to the terms of a technology MOU signed by Taipei and Shanghai in April this year, the Taipei Neihu Technology Park will begin cooperating with the Shanghai Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, which is located in Shanghai’s Pudong District. The Shanghai park was established in 1992, but growth was slow until 2000, says Yin Hong, vice general manager of Shanghai Zhangjiang Co., which is responsible for the management of that park and falls under the aegis of the Shanghai Municipal Government. Since 2000, however, the Shanghai park has taken off and is now one of the most important research and development centers in mainland China. Shanghai Zhangjiang has been interacting with and learning from the Hsinchu Science Park in northern Taiwan since 2003, Yin says, but only established contact with the Neihu park this year.
“Taiwan’s high-tech sector started developing decades earlier than the mainland’s,” says Yin, who has paid two visits to the island’s science parks. “Its science parks are impressive for their management and the services they offer to businesses. Their strength also lies in the quality of their personnel and the technologies they’ve accumulated over the years.”
The major benefit of high-tech cross-strait cooperation for Taiwan, Yin says, is that mainland China offers a huge market that will help Taiwan’s enterprises grow into bigger players. “Now with the opening of direct flights between Shanghai and Taipei, the cities can integrate their resources and bring their respective advantages into full play,” he says.
The two cities are also learning from and assisting each other in areas outside the business sector. “In general, Taipei is a compact city where everything is quite convenient,” says Zhu Dajian, a professor in the School of Economics and Management at Tongji University in Shanghai. “Shanghai is more internationalized and has big events more frequently, but it isn’t as convenient for everyday living,” the academic says, adding that the Shanghai Municipal Government, to which he is an advisor, is now placing additional emphasis on convenience when planning new urban areas.
Taipei has learned from Shanghai as well. For example, in 2008, during a trip to Shanghai, Mayor Hau was inspired by Shanghai’s plan for a “blue highway” on the Huangpu River to link various areas of the Shanghai Expo. Shanghai’s example led to the planning and use of frequent ferries along the Keelung River during the ongoing Taipei Flora Expo.
As convenient air transportation and solid communication channels bring Taipei and Shanghai closer together, the cities are well positioned to learn even more from each other in the future. Just as Gao Xi-jun suggests that people from Taiwan have much to gain from spending time in Shanghai, the converse is also true, and the growing cooperative efforts in business and cultural spheres are likely to result in the stronger development of both cities.
Write to Oscar Chung at oscar@mail.gio.gov.tw