Ten delegates of Malaysia's Pakatan Rakyat (People's Alliance) political coalition, including Malaysian Congressman Tan Kok Wai were accompanied by Hsu Shi-hsu, an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, as they visited the Taichung City Government and exchanged municipal experience with Taichung Mayor Jason Hu.
Asked by the delegation about how the city government handled public disputes and controversies, Hu said that Taichung City Government always takes such cases seriously. For example, if there was a 100-year-old tree that needed to be cut down in order to build a road, the city government would first invite involved the officials, experts and residents concerned in this situation for a discussion, and ensured that they would reach a consensus. In another example, if there was a family in a redevelopment area who refused to move out, the city government would also communicate and negotiate with them to make sure that situations like Taipei's recent Wenlin Yuan incident wouldn't happen in Taichung City.
Councilor Hiew King-cheu from Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia's Sabah state, also asked Mayor Hu whether or not he thought it was better to allow private enterprises to manage waste, rather than a government organization. The mayor responded that environmental issues were always serious ones that were crucial to any government sector. In particular, waste-related problems were so important that the city government should carry out very careful evaluations to decide which option was better. Currently, waste-management efforts were partially done by private companies in Taichung, which definitely created competition with public waste-management teams. The city government will continue evaluating the performance of both private and public sides, the mayor added.
According to the Malaysian representatives, their Taichung meeting was beneficial, as they were very impressed with Mayor Hu's rich political and life experiences, and also hoped that there would be more Taichung City businesspeople starting business links with Malaysia. The mayor also said that he would do his best to promote friendly relations between the two countries, stressing that Taichung City's doors would be always open for Malaysian businesses and NGOs.