Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin said yesterday he hopes his city can learn from Asian Games host Guangzhou as it prepares to mount its own bid to hold the continent’s most important sporting competition in 2019.
Wishing the best of luck to visiting Guangzhou Mayor Wan Qingliang in hosting the Asian Games in November, Hau said both cities would be holding major international events later this year that could serve as benchmarks for each other.
“As Taipei will also host the Taipei International Flora Exposition starting in November, we hope the two cities can emulate each other to pursue greater perfection,” Hau said when addressing an Asian Games presentation led by Wan, who is visiting Taiwan as part of a 1,000-person delegation from Guangdong Province.
Guangzhou will host the 16th Asian Games and the 19th Asian Para Games from Nov. 12 to Nov. 27, while Taipei will hold the Flora Expo from Nov. 6 to April 25 next year.
“We hope to get the benefit of some of Guangzhou’s experience so that we can win the hosting rights,” Hau said.
Hau said more than 10 cities have expressed an interest in hosting the 2019 Games, including Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Manila and Kuala Lumpur.
The winner of the bid is expected to be announced in April next year.
Taiwan has never hosted the Asian Games, though Kaohsiung came close to winning the right to host the 2002 Games before being defeated by Busan, South Korea, because of pressure against the bid from China.
Meanwhile, Wan said the date of the opening ceremony for the Games was chosen in honor of late Republic of China president Sun Yat-sen.
Born near Guangzhou, Sun was instrumental in the fall of the last Imperial dynasty in 1911 and is considered the founding father of republican China.
Sun is an unusual figure in modern Chinese history in that he is still revered in both Communist China and in Taiwan.
“Nov. 12 is the 144th anniversary of Dr Sun Yat-sen’s birthday,” Wan said, in comments carried by Xinhua news agency. “The Asian Games chose this day to open to express our respect to him.”
The Beijing Olympics opened at 8pm on the eighth day of the eighth month of 2008 as the No. 8 is considered lucky in China.
The Asian Games is the largest sporting event ever to be held in southern China and is expected to attract 14,000 athletes and officials.
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