Monocle, an international magazine covering culture and design, listed Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) among the world’s top urban leaders in its July-August issue.
Hu “thinks big,” the magazine said, under the headline “Ten Urban Leaders — Mayors Rethinking the Way Cities Expand, Move, Compete and Breathe.”
PLACE OF CULTURE
Hu’s large-scale infrastructure and economic developments have been applauded, Monocle said, but his key strength is in turning a city known for crime and prostitution into a place, where, as Hu says, “culture permeates all levels of society.”
Hu has brought Zaha Hadid, Chinese director Zhang Yimou (張藝謀) and cellist Yo-Yo Ma (馬友友) to Taichung.
He has also set out plans for a futuristic opera house designed by Japanese architect Toyo Ito, the report said.
CRIME
It said Hu’s most prominent success was seeing the crime rate drop 60 percent since 2001, the year he was elected mayor for his first term.
Hu said on Tuesday he was surprised and flattered to be cited by international magazine as one of the world’s 10 urban leaders.
“I’m glad that the Taichung City Government’s efforts to go global has caught the eyes of the world,” Hu said.
WORK NOT DONE
He said that despite the improvements in Taichung’s social order, such work is never done.
The mayors of the other nine cities listed in the magazine were those of Nagoya, Japan; Holon, Israel; Houston, Texas; Stockholm, Sweden; Oost, the Netherlands; Madrid, Spain; Phoenix, Arizona; Barranquilla, Colombia; and Perth, Australia.
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
RSS