The Taipei City Government and Hsinchu County Government conducted an exchange meeting today (the 20th) at the Sheraton Hsinchu Hotel. The host, Hsinchu County Magistrate Yang Wen-ke led the county government team to welcome Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je and his government team. The two heads warmly exchanged gifts and through casual dialogue, reached five consensuses on public books, agricultural production and marketing cooperation, tourism reciprocity, art and cultural exchanges, and exchanges between Hakka clubs in elementary and middle schools. They hope to increase the connection between the capital city, Taipei City, and the cultural and technological city, Hsinchu County, by taking the first step toward future close cooperation between the two cities.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je and his wife Peggy Chen led a team of 60 people from the Taipei City Government to visit Hsinchu County, where they were greeted by the Hsinchu County Government team of 50 people, including County Magistrate Yang Wen-ke and his wife Gan Hsiu-mei. Ko Wen-je presented Yang Wen-ke with a book he authored, "Taipei: A Proud City with Progressive Values", a set of cups in the shape of Taipei 101 and local specialty snacks from Tea Dessert House. In return, Yang Wen-ke presented him with the locally famous Oriental Beauty tea, an ink painting of Dabajian Mountain entitled " Milestone of the Century ", and a commemorative publication on Hsinchu County. The two leaders exchanged warm greetings and introduced their team members to each other to kick off the exchange.
The Hsinchu County Government took the lead with briefings by its Department of Economic Development, Department of Tourism and the Cultural Affairs Bureau to explain their industrial policy blueprints and cultural development status. Then the Department of Information and Tourism and the Department of Economic Development of the Taipei City Government in turn shared their tourism industry and science and technology park issues with the Hsinchu County team. The highlight of the exchange was the relaxed exchange, with Mayor Ko Wen-je and Magistrate Yang Ke-wen sitting casually on a couch to dialogue.
After the meeting, the two parties reached a consensus on 5 cooperation agreements. These agreements are the Taipei City and Hsinchu County Public Library Loan and Return Service, an exclusive reciprocal travel discount for Taipei City residents and Hsinchu County residents (Taipei City launched the "Hsinchu Friendship Month for a one night stay in Taipei for NT$999" plan, which includes a 24-hour MRT ticket, a 1-day Maokong Gondola ticket and a ticket for one day of fun at the Taipei Children's Amusement Park), the Taipei's special agricultural products platform (such as the TAIPEI EXPO Farmer's Market) for marketing Hsinchu County’s recreational farms, rural rejuvenation communities and agricultural, fishery and livestock products, the exchange between elementary school Hakka clubs in Taipei City and Hsinchu County, and the Hakka history field survey and arts exchange between Taipei City and Hsinchu County.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je pointed out that Hsinchu County is an important city for Taiwan’s high-tech industry. As a native of Hsinchu himself, he has a certain understanding of Hsinchu County, which has important technology settlements such as the Hsinchu Science Industrial Park, the Hsinchu Industrial Park, the Tai Yuen Hi-Tech Industrial Park and the Hsinchu Biomedical Science Park. So today, he paid a special visit to the protector of the country, TSMC, because the purpose of visiting other counties and cities is to learn the strengths of others and bring them back to Taipei City. Tourism output value is also very important, so he also visited the Beipu Old Street today. Hsinchu County's concept of a cultural and technological smart city happens to coincide with Taipei City, and he hopes that the departments of both parties can conduct more exchanges and discussions on cooperation models so that both parties can progress and benefit the people.
The host, Hsinchu County Magistrate Yang Wen-ke, described the two-city exchange as the "Milestone of the Century". He used the majestic and sacred Dabajian mountain in Hsinchu County to symbolize Mayor Ko Wen-je's and his ambition to do great things for the people. Yang Wen-ke said that both he and Mayor Ko believe that party affiliation is irrelevant to the livelihood issues of the people. As long as they can benefit the people and do things for the country, society and the people, all parties should cooperate and work together so that Taiwan can be more united, stronger and move forward.
Yang Wen-ke further indicated to everyone that Hsinchu County and Taipei City can be regarded as the two engines of Taiwan’s high-tech industries. With the speed and convenience of the high-speed rail, many high-tech companies have set up the operation model of having dual headquarters in Zhubei and Nangang (such as Silicon Motion Technology Corp). If Hsinchu County and Taipei City can strengthen their future cooperation and provide more services to manufacturers, more large factories can be attracted to move in. This would facilitate the industrial and economic development of both parties and will definitely achieve an "invincible strong teamwork" !
Yang Wen-ke emphasized that the various infrastructure and policies in Hsinchu County have been effective. Its 2020 statistics showed dazzling achievements, and it has also been recognized as the " National Happy City". He believes that politicians should put their efforts into practical work and infrastructure construction and oppose "a flash in the pan politics" in order to change Taiwan's culture of "Shallow Dish Politics". In terms of finances, through the proper allocation of funds, debts were repaid year by year. From 2019 to the end of February this year, NT$8.776 billion of debts have been repaid, which is a debt reduction of 41.87%. Outside of the non six special municipalities under the central government, it ranked top in debt reduction. Yang Wen-ke is also actively developing a ten-year financial plan for Hsinchu County to properly grasp financial resources, evaluate governance priorities and draw up an ideal governance blueprint.
Yang Wen-ke said that there is no perfect decision-making in the world, but precise decision-making can be achieved. The prerequisite is to collect information, respect professionalism and use the collective wisdom of 1+1 being greater than 2. More importantly, decision-makers cannot be dominated by fear because fear immobilizes. Magistrate Yang and Mayor Ke have many similar ideas, and this exchange will enhance the well-being of the people on both sides and allow both parties to achieve closer exchanges and cooperation.