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Officials trek through Taiwan
By Stephanie Flemmons, Staff Writer
The journey of five Plano officials led them to a place where relationships became golden and economic development became promising.
Mayor Pat Evans, Councilmembers Harry LaRosiliere and Jean Callison, Public Safety Officer Liu Yuan and Economic Development Director Sally Bane all traveled to Hsinchu City, Taiwan, after a personal invite by Hsinchu Mayor Junq-Tzer Lin.
The town of Hsinchu became famous for its science-based industrial park and was upgraded to a provincial city in 1982. The five travelers had the opportunity to celebrate Hsinchu’s 25th anniversary as a provincial city.
Yuan, originally from Beijing, China, traveled with the group as an interpreter and business consultant. She said the mayor of Hsinchu is highly respected and has turned the city around.
“If they didn’t have an interpreter, then things could get misinterpreted and they could be in real trouble,” Yuan said.
Evans said not only does Yuan understand the language, but the people of Hsinchu trust her and she understands the culture. She added Yuan made the connections easier.
The group conducted two business meetings and laid the groundwork for future communication.
“Both of our meetings were very positive,” Evans said. “The business connections were reaffirmed between Plano and Hsinchu.”
Evans said Cipher Lab, a Taiwan company which has their U.S. corporate headquarters based in Plano, is very interested in expanding and will send employees to Plano next week.
“It was a very positive thing that we showed up on their doorstep,” Evans said. “We are looking forward for great things to come out of our meeting with them.”
Plano-based company Crypton Solutions also joined the effort in developing business relationships overseas.
Bane said they were there to assist the company in their continued growth.
“This is a big world we live in,” Bane said. “We are lucky our community is diversified in both the business and social aspect.”
Evans said Crypton Solutions is interested in buying supplies and the group linked them with 300-400 companies at the science park.
“We took Crypton Solutions to Hsinchu’s Science Park, which is a massive campus of technology companies,” Evans said. “We wanted to help them get into the market overseas.”
Other than the importance of stimulating economic development relationships, LaRosiliere said the groups’ willingness to participate in the city’s celebration event was also of significant importance to Hsnichu’s government and mayor.
“It was very well-planned,” LaRosiliere said. “They are very proud of their heritage and the mayor showed a true spirit of being a public servant. His constituents showed us that he is very well liked.”
Yuan said the mayor learns from other cities and countries to help better Hsinchu.
“I remember four years ago when Mayor Lin came to Plano and visited the fire stations. He was amazed all the stations had gyms,” Yuan said. “Now, all the stations in Hsinchu have gyms for their firefighters.”
She said he also learned about fire lanes from visiting Plano.
During the celebration ceremony, Yuan said the city of Plano donated a huge clock to Hsinchu.
“They have 100 clocks in the city to encourage people how to do things on time and save time,” Yuan said.
Yuan said the group adapted very well culturally, but the hardest part for them was adapting to the food.
“I don’t think any of them ate the ox eyes,” Yuan said. “We joked around, and I told them the best policy was don’t ask, don’t tell.”
LaRosiliere said at one point the mayor told the group it was time for a snack, but they all thought he said it was time to eat a snake.
“We all laughed about that,” LaRosiliere said. “I had heard more bad stories about the food then it actually turned out to be.”
Bruce Glasscock, Plano’s assistant city manager, said the total amount to send the five officials was not yet determined. He said they had 30 days to turn in their expense reports.
He said the airfare, hotel and ground transportation totaled $20,369.
Contact Stephanie Flemmons at sflemmons@acnpapers.com
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
Can you interpret, "taxpayer's tab"? wrote on Jul 18, 2007 11:04 AM:
" I just love saving pennies to pay high taxes and read about sending public officials to places I only can dream about. Thanks Plano. "
Annoyed by the useless comment wrote on Jul 25, 2007 1:45 PM:
" So what is your point? I am sure that the leaders of Plano learned a lot from Hsinchu City, one of the leading technology capitals in Asia.
Hsinchu City is a high tech city with a world class university. Beyond that, it probably ranked on the bottom of the list for a place to vacation. So keep on dreaming! "
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