The Shanghai officials walked out of the airport and ushered away under heavy security, not stopping to answer questions from the media, according to footage broadcast by Taiwanese media outlets.
As they drove away, protesters and supporters chanted slogans outside the airport.
“Taiwan’s voice against China’s annexation must be heard by the world. Chinese people, get out,” a young man from a pro-Taiwanese independence group shouted into a loudspeaker, Taiwan Television reports showed.
Pro-Taiwan independence activists display banners during a protest before Taiwan affairs officials from Shanghai arrive in Taipei on Saturday. Photo: AFP
Another group held up signs saying: “A warm welcome to Taiwan.”
“We are all descendants of the dragon and we are all Chinese,” a man from the group told Taiwan Public Television Service.
According to the Taiwan-based United Daily News, the delegation will have lunch and dinner with officials from the Taipei municipal government on Saturday and visit the Taipei Music Centre in the afternoon.
Their itinerary also includes stops at four Lantern Festival events on Saturday and Sunday evenings, as well as visits to the Taipei Performing Arts Centre and Taipei Urban Intelligence Centre.
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Molten iron show celebrates Lantern Festival in Beijing
On Monday morning, the delegation will meet Taipei mayor Chiang Wan-an and his deputies, United Daily News reported on Friday.
First celebrated in the year 1990, the Lantern Festival is an annual event hosted by the Tourism Bureau of Taiwan’s Ministry of Transport and Communications on the 15th day of the first month in the lunar calendar.
Shanghai has taken part in the event in Taipei since 2016.
A Taipei city government spokesman said on Thursday that in the past, the city had invited Shanghai to contribute lantern artworks during the festival and officials from the mainland metropolis to attend the event.
But the Covid-19 pandemic forced both Taiwan and the mainland to close their borders and Shanghai officials had not attended the event since 2020, the spokesman said.
The Shanghai delegation is the first official mainland Chinese delegation to visit Taiwan since the island reopened its borders in October.
