Incumbent Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (
"The `Kaohsiung era' has come," Hsieh declared at his mayoral inauguration ceremony, held at Kaohsiung City Hall yesterday morning.
"Kaohsiung City will become an economic and trade city, as well as a garden city," Hsieh said in his inauguration speech. "This city is ready to get on the international stage," he said.
Hsieh said that being a hard-working mayor is the only way to express his gratitude to all of Kaohsiung citizens. In the future, the city will strive toward its goal of becoming a port city of free commerce and trade once the draft bill entitled "Kaohsiung as a municipal port city of commerce and trade" (高雄經貿自治港市條例草案) is officially passed by the Legislative Yuan.
The draft bill has already proceeded to the Legislative Yuan for review.
"Facing fierce international competition, Kaohsiung must think about how to maintain its position as the world's leading container port," Hsieh said. "It must also think about how to take the initiative in order to gain the upper hand once direct links across the Taiwan Strait are fully opened," he said.
Hsieh also named most of the heads of the city's bureaus and departments yesterday. Surprisingly, former National Police Administration director-general Yao Kao-chiao (
The KMT's Yao switched to Hsieh's camp right before the mayoral election and was later expelled by his party.
It's also a surprise that Hsieh appointed controversial Wu Meng-te (吳孟德) as head of the city's Bureau of Urban Development.
Wu is former director of the city's Bureau of Public Works. He was forced to resign in April after he angered resident mainlanders by saying that massive flooding last year was brought about due to the influx of mainlanders into the city.
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