Youth Forum in Taipei suspended, Shen Boyang bids to host: Continue dialogue with youth

The Youth Forum in Taipei has been suspended, and Shen Boyang’s campaign office stated that it will continue to dialogue and exchange with young people. (Photo by reporter Tu Jianrong)

The organizer of the "2026 Mayoral Candidates Youth Forum" announced today that the Taipei venue has been suspended due to the Chiang Wanan and Shen Boyang camps declining to attend. Shen Boyang's bid stated that it would continue to dialogue and exchange with young people; Jiang Wanan's bid said that it would mainly rely on the organizer's statement.

National student groups such as Youth Thought, the Taiwan Student Federation, and the Youth Democratic Association, as well as student organizations from Taipei University, Fu Jen Catholic University, Tsinghua University, Yang-Ming Chiao Tung University, and Sun Yat-sen University, jointly organized the "2026 Mayoral Candidates Youth Forum", which has been held in Kaohsiung, Hsinchu, and New Taipei.

The organizer of the forum issued a statement today stating that after four months of preparation and two months of continuous invitations, the Taipei event has been officially suspended due to the fact that both the Chinese Kuomintang candidate for Taipei mayor Chiang Wanan and the Democratic Progressive Party candidate Shen Boyang declined to attend in recent days.

In this regard, Shen Boyang's campaign office stated in writing that the team continued to coordinate with the organizers and hoped that candidates from both parties could participate so that young people could hear diverse voices and be willing to cooperate regardless of whether they were on the same stage or in separate venues, but in the end it was not possible. Thanks to the organizer for the invitation, we will continue to have dialogue and exchanges with young people in the future.

Jiang Wanan’s campaign office pointed out that it mainly relied on the organizer’s statement and confirmed the content of its statement.