President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday announced the official opening of a Presidential Office in Taichung, part of the government’s plan to balance regional development and boost the role of central Taiwan.
The office is in the Taichung City Government’s Yangming building in Fengyuan District (豐原).
The office would be used to host meetings with politicians and guests in central Taiwan, Tsai said.
The central government aims to work more closely with local governments and the establishment of the office would be the “beginning of a stronger role to be played by central Taiwan” in national development, she said.
She made the announcement during a meeting with city officials in Taichung, which was also attended by representatives from Changhua, Nantou and Miaoli counties.
The three counties and Taichung have a combined population of 5.11 million.
The establishment of the central branch came after the inauguration of a similar office in southern Taiwan’s Kaohsiung on Friday last week as part of an initiative to balance the nation’s perceived north-south divide.
The move was aimed at bringing balance to the economic, cultural and political developments between of the north and south, Tsai said during the inauguration of the Presidential Southern Office.
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