Taiwan's KMT will not attend Straits Forum

Taiwan’s opposition party Kuomintang said on Monday it would not send a delegation for talks on the mainland.

The KMT will not send a delegation to the annual Straits Forum in the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen this weekend, the head of the party’s culture and communications committee Wang Yu-min told a Taipei briefing on Monday.

But she also said that as the forum was a civilian event, the KMT would not bar any of its members from going if they wished to attend in a private capacity.

Wang Jin-pyng, former KMT vice chairperson, who was expected to lead the delegation, said if the party decided against it, he certainly would not go.

It marks the first time since the inaugural forum in 2009 that the KMT will not send an official delegation.

The forum will be held from Saturday onward.