Taichung Mayor Jason Hu’s (胡志強) sense of humor and affability have helped him to enjoy smooth sailing so far in his public service career.
After receiving a doctorate in international relations from the University of Cambridge in the UK, Hu returned to Taiwan to start his public career in the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-controlled government. In 1991, Hu was appointed as minister of the Government Information Office, in 1996 he became Taiwan’s representative to Washington and two years later, Hu was appointed to the post foreign minister.
After the KMT lost power to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 2000 and drove most KMT heavyweights off the national political stage, Hu restarted his public service career by running in the mayoral election in Taichung.
He easily won the election in 2001 and was re-elected in 2005.
“Jason Hu is good at making friends and he has no enemies,” DPP Taichung City Councilor Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) said.
Liao Da-chi (廖達琪), director of National Sun Yat-sen University’s Institute of Political Science agreed and said: “Hu has a good sense of humor. He always faces difficult or embarrassing situations with a sense of humor. People like him, the media like him, so he’s very popular.”
Many people were also touched by the affection Hu displayed publicly in November 2006, when he appealed to the public to pray for his wife, Shaw Hsiao-ling (邵曉鈴), who suffered injuries in a car accident.
Hu and his wife were returning from a campaign rally in -Kaohsiung when their minivan was hit by another vehicle that was trying to overtake Hu’s van on the hard shoulder. Hu was only hurt slightly in the accident, but Shaw was seriously injured.
Shaw survived two separate procedures in which doctors removed her ruptured spleen and amputated her left forearm.
Given his foreign affairs background, Liao said Hu knows how to promote Taichung on the international stage and bring greater visibility to Taichung.
“Hu has introduced many art and culture events to the city, which he calls ‘cultural construction,’ and I think that is his greatest achievement in office,” Liao said.
Hu himself has also highlighted his cultural endeavors in his re-election campaign.
“Every city has a face and Taichung’s face is a face of culture,” Hu said.
Hu claimed that in 2001, each Taichung resident attended an art or culture event less than four times a year, but in 2007 each residents attended 32 events on average.
However, both Liao and Wang Yeh-li (王業立), a political science professor at National Taiwan University, agreed that Hu failed to resolve the issue of public order in Taichung.
Taichung’s public order is regarded as the worst among the nation’s cities. Robberies and illegal dealings by gangsters are widespread, but the situation came into the spotlight earlier this year after several Taichung senior police officers were discovered to have close relations with local gangsters.
Wang also said while Taichung’s cultural aspects improved during Hu’s nine years in office, Hu had not overseen many impressive construction projects.
“Some people in Taichung have doubts, wondering whether the city will have a breakthrough if Hu is to be the mayor for another four years,” Wang said.
Our series of profiles of the candidates in the Nov. 27 special municipality elections continues tomorrow with the KMT mayoral candidate for Sinbei City, Eric Chu (朱立倫).
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
RSS