Taichung city mayor Jason Hu was scheduled to leave Taiwan on October 10, and take part in the 5th Asia Pacific Cities Summit between October 11 and 18 in ChongQing, China. He then heads to Shanghai with business members from Taichung city to promote Taichung and its industries. During this trip, Mayor Hu hopes to have the opportunity to discuss with local authorities about bringing the pandas to Taichung. Mayor Hu will also bring up the subject of restarting direct flights between Hong Kong and Taichung's QingChuanGang airport when the Hong Kong media interviews him.
Mayor Hu expressed that when he promoted Taichung's Sun Cakes in Beijing in May, tens of millions of people got to know this product, and now when Taiwanese business people travel to China, they must prepare Sun Cakes as souvenirs. This visit to ChongQing to attend the Asia Pacific Cities Summit gives Mayor Hu the chance to give a speech in front of over a hundred city mayors from around the Asia Pacific region, giving him another wonderful opportunity to promote Taichung. Using "Dream City, Taichung Takes Off" as a theme, he will explain Taichung's international city development strategy in cultural and economic aspects. He will also talk about education, environmental protection, public safety, citizen awareness, city awareness and other important basis of a city's development. Mayor Hu stressed that the city government's aim is to put Taichung city on the top ten list of most competitive cities on both sides of the shores.