An interview with Taichung's new mayor, Lin Chia-lung

By Douglas Habecker Translated by S. Ying Compiled by Uvia Chang
Photo provided by Mayor Lin Chia-lung's office and Uvia Chang

On December 25, Lin Chia-lung officially became the first new Taichung mayor since 2001, replacing long-serving Mayor Jason Hu. Holding BA and MA degrees in Political Science from National Taiwan University, plus master's degrees in Philosophy and Political Science and a PhD in Political Science from Yale University, Lin has served in a variety of academic and political roles over the years, including Government Information Office Director, Democratic Progressive Party Secretary-General, Secretary-General to the President and, most recently, Taichung City Legislator. Compass Magazine Co-Publisher Douglas Habecker sat down with the new mayor just days before he officially took office to find out more about his vision for the city and the four years ahead. Below is a full version of that interview:

Compass: As the first new mayor in Taichung over 10 years, what would you say is the most positive, and negative, things are?
Lin: To start with the positive side, during the campaign, I promoted the "hopeful mayor" for the "city of hope". On the night of the election, I said I wanted a "take-action city government". So how do I translate people's hopes into action? In my opinion, Mayor Hu was also a mayor who could put forth a vision but his actions didn't get that much positive feedback. So I will be a take-action mayor to position myself and my future team. Taking action will address the things that residents feel haven't been done well, not the big developments but things that people care about like transportation-related issues such as traffic, uneven roads and a lack of good public transportation. We want to resolve before the mountain-sea rail line link-up or MRT network, so that people will rapidly feel that traffic has improved.

Another area that everyone cares about is city beautification. This city has great weather and great human resources, but its appearance isn't really that beautiful. There's a lot of garbage, the canals have a bad smell, and we don't really have great park green areas and public-service facilities. We hope we can green and beautify this city and take action to make changes to this situation. For example, city residents hope for recreational areas, so we can open schools during non-school hours. These things aren't difficult to do.

I want people to feel changes when it comes to transportation, beautification and public safety. Taichung's public safety has improved in recent years because after it became a special municipality, there were more crime-fighting and surveillance resources. These have all helped, but why don't people feel safe? We can do things like boosting the police presence in more crime-prone or crowded areas, where can have mobile police stations. For example, in places where there are more people like Fengjia Night Market or entertainment centers and greenbelts, to give these places are safer feeling because of a greater police presence. This will cut back on impulse crimes. When it comes to Taichung’s public safety, there are bigger cases and there are impulse crimes. For example, many large buildings have businesses located on first floors and there's double-parking outside, forcing women with children to walk on the road, making them easier targets for motorcycle drive-by purse snatchings. This all is related to our public areas, so I believe that people think, "Sure, crime statistics have improved, but I still have a feeling of insecurity." This needs some effort to change.

I'll give another example. Taichung experiences typhoons every year and there's sometimes flooding. There are many problems which lead to flooding, but one reason is that we haven't cleaned out canals and gutters beforehand in a large-scale effort cleaning. This is something that we should do in April and March to reduce chances of serious flooding.

I've given these as some examples of what I plan to do differently. Longer term, there are bigger projects, like my "Greater Taichung 1, 2, 3" plan. “One” stands for one connecting line between the sea and mountain railway lines. “Two” stands for two international ports--using the airport and seaport in the future as key gateways for industrial and/or tourism development. ‘Three” stands for three secondary downtown areas. In addition to the main downtown, county areas can also develop into satellite cities. This will take time—at the fastest three to four years, but I think four to five years.

These are all things a “take-action” government can do immediately. I'm also more of an active mayor. I'll give you an example. Recently, after being elected, I've visited some little restaurants, the Eslite bookstore and Civic Square, where I've run into a lot of residents who get very excited because they've never met the mayor in their daily-life areas. Before, they might have seen Mayor Hu on TV, or at openings or ribbon-cuttings, or on new year's eve. Residents didn't feel the mayor was a part of their daily lives. So young people have been taking photos with me and posting these on Facebook with words like, "Capturing the wild mayor". Perhaps they think that the mayor should be at city hall, but they've captured him in the “wild”. They've posted these kinds of things on Facebook. I hope that I will be a visible mayor, and one who sees everyone's needs and effectively solves problems—first taking care of these things that don't require large expenditures of money to make people feel like this city is improving.

Is there anything negative to consider? Short-term we need to discuss some of the city projects of my predecessor, because our city budget is limited. Of course, we want to build the Taiwan Tower and a MRT system, so you have to allocate your finances properly and see how to do everything, or make choices. The mayor has “written many checks” and we need to review, we need to prioritize. I don't think these are bad things, but changing a mayor means a new person, which means a new government and a “new deal”. We won't oppose [the previous administration's] projects but will just think about ways to do them better. For example, the National Taichung Theater has a lot of unfinished construction and we'll do it even better.

But there are some projects that we may thoroughly review. For example, the high-mountain cable car's Xue-Gu Line, from Daxueshan to Guguan, and the Xin-Da Line, from Xinshe to Dakeng. From a tourism perspective these are good, but does the route harm the environment? These are things that we will pay attention to, because they haven't been confirmed yet. There are other confirmed projects that we may need to carefully assess, like the BRT. The BRT is not bad, but only has one line on Taichung Port Road, and right now has created some difficulties because they haven’t finalized inspections yet. It's not a true BRT, failing to meet lots of criteria for this.

I've posted on Facebook, telling residents that I need their help, to let us know what things we can take action on easily today without spending a lot of money. There were over 4,000 messages left with over 50,000 "likes" and about 700,000-800,000 viewing it. It was very interesting—the BRT, uneven roads and traffic jams were the top areas. Some people suggested that if the BRT cannot be improved immediately, its lanes should be opened as a bus lane for all city buses. If it cannot be improved or torn down, others suggested allowing motorcycles onto Taiwan Boulevard. Motorcycles are currently being squeezed out because the BRT takes up two car lanes while other buses use the slow lanes, so it discourages motorcyclists from traveling on Taiwan Boulevard because they feel it's dangerous and they feel hemmed in. These are the kinds of suggestions that many people have given us. We need good management to make changes, but first need to survey residents. This is moving from hope to action.

Compass: In 2005, you ran for Taichung mayor but were unsuccessful. What made you decide to run again?
Lin: Because Taichung is a good place and it’s a worthwhile place to live in. If I can align my political career with where I live, and as a mayor can promote city development, that's a good thing. I chose Taichung because Taichung is a very livable city. Also, I think that if city residents come to know and understand me they'll see my qualifications are very compatible for being mayor. In the 10 years I've been in Taichung, I've encountered many people's hopes. This election wasn't just me striving hard to beg people to vote for me. Because a lot of people know me, they hope that after being elected I can give Taichung a new atmosphere. On one hand, I love Taichung and on the other Taichung also loves me. The combination of these two resulted in me smoothly winning by a high number of votes.

Compass: When we talk about a vision for Taichung and its future, what do you think its biggest attributes are, and what is your long-term vision for this city and what it can become?
Lin: Taichung's competitive advantages are its positive, all-around natural, human and cultural conditions. Why do we say this? First, there's its location in central Taiwan. It also has a lot of land. Taichung not only influences central Taiwan; its weather is great and suitable for living. Its people are very diverse. Whether in regards to culture or industry, Taichung city is a mini replica of Taiwan and can represent Taiwan's overall culture and industry. In my book, I talked about Taichung's position as a “creative city and lifestyle capital”. People are among our greatest assets.

When it comes to its ideal conditions, there's the overall environment. But it faces some challenges. Four years ago, when the city and county merged to become a special municipality, it wasn't like Taipei or Kaohsiung, where the central government has instituted many projects and public facilities, such as a MRT, dome stadium, convention center, sporting facilities, water management facilities. When it comes to underground sewers, Taichung has the least among the five special municipalities. Its infrastructure hasn't developed well enough to support what is potentially a great city. It’s this gap that has made residents wanted me to be mayor, to allow this city, with so many ideal conditions, to use its natural strengths to enhance life here. This requires leadership, strategy and momentum.

Compass: Taichung seems to have increasingly internationalized over the past decade. As mayor, what do you think you can do to help Taichung continue to internationalize?
Lin: Internationalization requires a smooth flow, of people, of capital, of information. Taichung needs to create exchanges with the world. The first is transportation—land, sea and air transportation needs development. For land, of course there is the HSR and freeway and local rail, MRT and roads. Taichung Port's capabilities need to be boosted as this is important for business growth. Ching Chuan Kang Airport is also important for air transportation and travel/tourism, as well as a logistics center. Taichung's location is very good but its international transportation links need very big development projects and changes.

Secondly, I think it's very important that our residents have international exchanges. One way is through city-to-city diplomacy and sister-city relationships with many countries, or to use education to support our citizens to have these exchanges from the time they are in elementary school. Our young people can also visit many sister cities. These can help our people and our businesses, via city marketing/promotional efforts, to have interactions with the world. We can also hold international events, such as Taichung future hosting of the 2018 Flora Expo and the 2019 East Asian Youth Games. These all assist with Taichung's internationalization and promote Taichung, allowing people from many nations to come here for visit, live or invest.

We also need to encourage foreigners to come to Taichung. We need to attract business investment, to welcome foreign students, and take measures to help foreigners and foreign spouses already living here to feel comfortable and blend in, with participation in different Taichung activities, including various festivals, the food scene and cultural exchanges. This is a two-way street—also allowing Taichung people to become more international and helping the world know Taichung better. This is what I mean by "flow"—a flow of people, capital and information, relying on our cultural, tourism and business development. Taichung has great conditions in these areas.

Of course, we need to also treat our foreign residents well and serve them. Ideally, they are a resource to help market Taichung. In the future, I hope to have an international exhibition center with space and a venue and support staff to allow foreigners to come here, whether it is because of marriage, education, work or tourism, to make this like a hub, a "hub of hope" and "city of hope".

I hope that Taichung is Taiwan's best NGO city, with various non-government organizations and non-profit organizations using Taichung as a hub and hold events here. This is very related to internationalization and good for the foreigners here. So NGOs are a very important part of my goals for Taichung's future internationalization. Around the world, you have Vienna as a NGO city. In Asia, besides culture and human rights and environmental protection events, Taichung has great weather, convenient transportation access, and lots of land. So we can define this city as a creative capital and city of hope. To put it in concrete terms, it is very compatible for the exhibition-convention business, as a travel and tourism city and as a NGO hub. These can all give Taichung a different position from Taipei and Kaohsiung, although this position needs to be very clear.

Compass: Do you have any particular plans or projects that will especially benefit Taichung's foreign companies, residents and visitors?
Lin: First, information is very important, so I want all city government and Taichung introductory information to be in English and online where it can be easily accessed. This is a very basic need if people want to know Taichung better but cannot find good information. So Compass is very important and makes us partners. When it comes to providing services to foreigners already living here or immigrants, I hope that the city government can offer a good "window". For new immigrants or foreigners coming to Taichung, encountering the bureaucracy can be very tough, so we hope to create a "one-window" to provide services and resolve problems quickly.

I think that diverse cultural festivals and events for foreigners here are also important, to make this a very lively “event city”, with every week and every month filled with diversity and different points of interaction. This can be done right away. The next step involves industry and tourism, which are very important engines of growth. Businesses coming here will have already certainly considered our qualifications and why Taichung should be selected when investing in Taiwan. So what should we do to make them stay here? Industry is very important and challenging.

Secondly, there's travel and tourism—how to make sure that visitors visit again. This means having a unique local culture, living, leisure, entertainment, transportation, and cultural and tourist sites all need to be user friendly. Taichung right now lacks integration, so the results haven't been great. Take backpackers, for example. Hong Kong and Singaporean travelers like coming to Taichung. Why? Because spoken and written communications isn't that tough. However, outside of the Chinese world, it becomes difficult. Japanese and Koreans like coming here; the Koreans have the "Grandpas Over Flowers" TV show that has attracted many people. This means that Taiwan is a great tourism destination.

Taiwan is rich destination with mountains and the ocean, plus dining, nightlife and entertainment. Many foreign destinations are more one-dimensional. If you go to Hawaii, you go for nature and indigenous culture; in Southeast Asia, there are the traffic-jammed cities and beaches. But this island is very rich, so we want to encourage people to stay longer. In three or four days, you can use Taichung as a center to visit Nantou, Changhua and Miaoli. You see all of Taiwan then—there are mountains and ocean with different kinds of fruit and different kinds of food. Coming to Taichung is coming to Taiwan; it's in the center of Taiwan, the gateway to Taiwan.

So we need to look to travel and tourism to upgrade our city's living conditions, because if you want people to come here and visit or stay, and visit again, we have to resolve lots of problems. On one hand there's business and on the other there's tourism. These two are pivotal for direction and strategy.
Shorter term we have two events we are setting goals for, the 2018 Flora Expo and the 2019 East Asian Youth Games. Other cities often hold these kinds of large-scale events, so we need to prepare ourselves and welcome everyone to Taiwan, make travel and tourism investments, create four-to-five year goals and mobilize the whole city to ensure that when everyone visits Taichung they have a good impression. Long term, this is very important for our city's international exchanges.

Longer-term, there are education and cultural exchanges with our sister cities, from our young to older citizens, including school-to-school exchanges. This can rely on information exchanges, web exchanges, graduation trips, or overseas study and work. It all begins with young people, so that within a decade our young people have an international outlook, international friends and their first chances to go overseas are to visit sister schools or cities.

Compass: When you aren't working, what's your favorite form of fun or recreation?
Lin: I put out a book titled, "Travel Around Taichung". I think Taichung's most beautiful scenery is its people. I also like to go to Lishan to visit aboriginal and farmer friends and enjoy great fruit. I like getting out of the city to see beautiful places. Most importantly, when I get together with friends, I like to see what their lives are like. For example, during the March Mazu Festival, I'll spend a few days around Dajia Mazu Temple. Or, if I want seafood, I'll go see friends in Wuqi. Or to ride a bike I'll go to Fengyuan and Houli. My more frequent form of recreation is hiking, because my hiking friends are really friendly. Hikers are fairly healthy and more optimistic and outgoing, so when I get together with my hiking friends, I'm most able to get a lot of ideas while we're drinking tea and they're telling me lots of things.

When it comes to other kinds of exercise, right now I really don't have much time, but I hope to promote bicycling. I have a "369" plan--in the future, I hope to have 300 public-bicycle stations, 9,000 public bicycles for everyone to use, and 600 kilometers of bike and pedestrian paths. This is my goal, because I think Taichung is ideal for bicycling with its great weather, scenery and people and rich local culture.

Compass: If you hadn't become a politician, what other career would you have chosen?
Lin: I would have gone into education. As a legislator, I pushed three experimental education environment laws, so I don’t just support formal education but also out-of-class learning. Having creative ideas for experimental education and spending times with these kids is the best thing. Before, I was in academia as a professor. In recent years, I've had a new job, building museums. Why? Chi Mei Museum founder Shi Wen-long five years ago invited me to plan a new museum in Tainan. It's been completed and you can now go visit it; in January it will officially open. My wife is the current deputy director and I'm the key person for planning. In the future if I retire, I've thought about working at a museum, which is a broader kind of education and offers interaction with society with lots of events. It's a benefit to all of Taiwan's art, culture and internationalization. When we go to major cities abroad, we tend to visit history and art museums. This is something for my retirement; right now, I don't have any time