H.E. Lee Leffingwell, the mayor of Austin, Texas, U.S.A., led a delegation to visit Taichung City on April 13th and 14th. This is to echo Jason Hu’s visit this January. Austin is one of Taichung’s sister cities. Jason Hu hosted the distinguished guests and awarded the honored citizen medals to the mayor H.E. Lee Leffingwell and state councilor Elliott Naishtat. Jason Hu had a pleasant conversation with them.

In order to reinforce the relationship and communication with the sister cities of Taichung, Jason Hu led a delegation to visit 3 sister cities in the United States, which included Austin, Texas, Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Reno, Nevada. Hu joined the grand opening of the “Dadung Fine Arts Exhibition” at the culture center of San Antonio, Texas, and left a Chinese calligraphy work in the exhibition. Also, the delegation of Taichung City visited some institutions in Austin.

In January, Jason Hu visited H.E. Lee Leffingwell, who was just on board last year and reaffirmed him that the relationship of both cities will be retained. Also, Hu told the mayor that Taichung City was looking for opportunities for further and substantial experience exchange on economic and business development, education and cultural affairs with diversified occasions, especially on economic and trade issues.

The delegation, led by Mayor H.E. Lee Leffingwell from Austin, Texas, arrived in Taichung City and visited Mayor Jason Hu and had a pleasant and productive talk. Hu told the members of the delegation to make a survey of Taichung and Taiwan’ s industry environment, such as the Middle Taiwan Science Park, though they had only a very short time to stay here. Also, Jason Hu told the distinguished guests that Taichung will build up the first Mass Rapid Transportation route and the traffic will be more efficient in the near future.

After the talk, Jason Hu awarded Honored Citizen Medals to H.E. Lee Leffingwell and State Councilor Elliott Naishtat and gave each of them a colored glaze necklace and vase. H.E. Lee Leffingwell and Elliott Naishtat gave Jason Hu books and other souvenirs. In the evening, the mayor hosted a welcome dinner for the delegation.

Jason Hu told the journalists that the visibility of Taichung City has been increased. He has accepted an invitation to give speeches in France, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Middle East. In addition, he was invited by Oxford University in the UK to give a speech with the title of “The development of Taichung City”. This shows that the international visibility has been rising. Most of the attention was on the urban planning and financial structure improvements. He hoped that not only the visibility of Taichung City was raised, but also the progress of Taiwan.

The delegation from Austin, Texas, led by mayor Leffingwell, visited Wan-her Temple, Middle Taiwan Science Park, Taichung City Council and Hei Wen Senior High School, on April 14th, and then flew to another destination.