Taichung’s international visibility has stepped forward again! Monocle, a major publication, selected Jason Hu as one of the top 10 global mayors. This not only enhanced Taichung’s international awareness but also recognized Jason Hu’s achievements of his governance of Taichung City.

According to Monocle’s remark to each city hero, Hu’s major achievement was that he successfully lowered the crime rate of Taichung City 60%, since 2001. His largest challenge was that he had to focus on the administration of Taichung. Many supporters continued encouraging him to run for the presidency in 2012.

Monocle is a publication which covers news regarding global affairs, business, culture and design related stories. Its publication volume has been growing since 2007 and is distributed in over 50 countries around the world. It is highly valued among key opinion leaders of business and politics. In the latest issue of July and August, Monocle published a story with the title of “Civic Slickers��"Global”. It selected 10 renowned cities and who created miracles for the listed cities. In addition to Jason Hu of Taichung City, there were Takashi Kawamura (mayor of Nagoya City, Japan), Motti Sasson (mayor of Holon, Israel), Annise Parker (mayor of Houston, Texas, U.S.A. ), Sten Nordin (mayor of Stockholm, Sweden), Fatima Elatik (Mayor of Oost, the Netherlands), who was an immigrant from Morocco, Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon (mayor of Madrid, Spain), Phil Gordon (mayor of Phoenix, Arizona ), Alegandro Char (Barranquilla, Columbia) and Lisa Scaffidi (mayor of Perth, Australia).

The headquarters of Monocle is situated in London. In addition to London, Monocle has offices in Tokyo, Sydney, Zurich and New York City. The editorial team members are from awarded editors and the guest authors from major news institutions, such as New York Times, BBC, and CBC, etc. The publication has a very original and in-depth opinion and taste which facilitate more enlightened thinking for readers.

Three years ago, Taichung was ranked as the “best city of art and culture in 2007” by the World Leadership Forum. Since then, Jason Hu has received many invitations from many countries to give speeches to promote the success of Taiwan. This time, through the media coverage, we believe that the global awareness of Taichung will increase again.

The success and honor were not based on luck, but on the hard work of the mayor and his team. As Jason Hu said, he had to keep on working with all of his effort to lead Taichung to keep on moving and chase excellence. This is what he can do for Taichung as a politician.