The Hsinchu venue of the 2026 Mayoral Candidates Youth Forum has confirmed that Zhuang Jingcheng and He Zhiyong will attend, but Gao Hongan said he was not invited

The "2026 Mayoral Candidates Youth Forum" event sponsored by National Youth Organizations such as Youth Thought, Taiwan Federation of Students, Youth League for Democracy, and One Drop You, as well as student self-governing organizations such as Peking University Students Association, Fushu University Students Association, Tsinghua University Humanities and Social Sciences Society, Yangming Jiaotong University Transportation Student Association, and Sun Yat-Sen Sociology Society. The Hsinchu venue has confirmed that Democratic Progressive Party mayoral candidate Zhuang Jingcheng and independent candidate He Zhiyong have accepted and will attend. The current mayor Gao Hongan previously said through the competition that he had not received the invitation. He Zhiyong was sour today and Gao Hong'an didn't want to debate, so there was no need to blame the students.

Gao Hongan's campaign office once again responded that he was not invited. If an invitation is received, Gao Hongan will be notified.

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He said that as early as August, he was trembling with trepidation when he received an invitation from students from Qingdao and Jiaotong to invite Hsinchu mayoral candidates to debate. Qingjiao students are logically sharp and can hit the nail on the head. There is no room for avoidance in participating in such activities, which is a big challenge for politicians. He also knew that Gao Hongan might not participate, because judging from Gao Hongan's past, she was not someone who was very used to being tested. But I never expected that it was understandable that Gao Hongan didn’t want to participate, but he actually said that he was “not invited” and wanted to blame the students.

He Zhiyong said that the organizers have been trying to invite Gao Hongan. All things considered, no matter whether the students initially planned to host a debate or later changed the format of the event to a "candidates' symposium," there is no reason not to invite the current mayor. He believes that Gao Hong'an is a typical example of having both wants and needs, and calls on Gao Hong'an to correct his statement of "not being invited to participate in the symposium" and to give justice to Qing Jiao's children.

The organizer also issued a press release yesterday saying that it has submitted invitations to the mayoral candidates of New Taipei, Hsinchu and Kaohsiung to participate in the "2026 Mayoral Candidate Youth Forum". It explained the status of the first wave of invitations, including Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Ke Zhien of the Kuomintang and Lai Ruilong of the Democratic Progressive Party, Hsinchu mayoral candidate Zhuang Jingcheng of the Democratic Progressive Party, and He Zhiyong, formerly a KMT but registered without party membership, have all been invited to attend. Hsinchu Mayor Gao Hongan has invited people through the city government window in mid-August and is continuing to invite people. The Hsinchu field will be attended by Japanese political scholar Yoshiyuki Ogasawara to ask questions on behalf of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences of Tsinghua University.