TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As dozens of Chinese warplanes intruded into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), communist leaders and a small group of Taiwanese spoke in the city of Xiamen of the links between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, CNA reported.

The affair was more subdued than ever before, with the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic keeping people home, and even Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) stayed away due to insulting remarks by a Chinese television anchor.

Even the supposed host of the event, Wang Yang (汪洋), the chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, only addressed the Sept. 16 meeting via videoconference.

While officials emphasize that the forum is a grassroots event relying on private citizens, the preconditions are purely political, with China’s view of Taiwan’s status a prerequisite. Right from the opening address, the speeches emphasize unification and condemn independence for Taiwan, CNA reported.

The forum does not give any room to a discussion of cross-strait affairs from a Taiwanese viewpoint, with topics such as aggressive military behavior by China or human rights kept far away from its agenda.

Chinese boycotts against the island, such as its refusal to allow groups of Chinese tourists to visit or to send a delegation to the Golden Horse Awards, go counter to the forum’s description of Taiwan and China as “one family,” so they are not allowed to be discussed, CNA noted.