An effective team must be a team with remarkable achievements. However, a disciplined team does not always guarantee excellence. Thus, the Keelung government will educate our staff to be open-minded and forward-looking, create new paradigms of thinking, seek excellent political performances and promote municipal construction. Continuing good practices and creating new practices will be the government’s future guiding principle. Consequently, the government has drawn up the following new projects:

Fast and convenient MRT is the key to addressing the transportation issue in and between cities. Although the central government didn’t approve of the proposal of extending the Nangang MRT line to Keelung for it wouldn’t be cost-effective, the extension to Keelung would benefit roadside economy and people’s livelihood, have a profound effect on the city’s future development and cannot be replaced by urban railway rapid transit systematization or other alternatives. Base on the abovementioned reasons, the city government has aggressively strived for the MRT extension to Keelung, which not only attracts tourists from Danshui to visit the city, but also solves commuters’ transportation problem. In addition, the idle storage district area from Sijhih to Wudu can be developed along with rezoning and the MRT construction, so the district will connect with Neihu and Nangang to form a precision technology industrial park and a recreational district, becoming the secondary urban center and promoting Cidu’s development.

The MRT extension to Keelung would make transportation more convenient, shorten the distance between cities and form a living community of Taipei City, Taipei County and Keelung, so that Keelung wouldn’t be marginalized. The entire program will be planned and evaluated by a professional planning institution, and finalized in two years. The city will work with all circles of society to strive for funds from the central government. Taipei City mayor Longbin Hao and I have a common consensus in promoting this program. If the central government doesn’t approve of it, the BOO (build-operate-own) model as an alternative way can be employed to promote the program.

The current one-outline-multiple-texts educational policy generally concerns society and causes a variety of adverse effects. Society eagerly awaits education reforms due to the double pressure from family economy and school loading, and the government also sees the severity and urgency of this problem. Consequently, the government aims to cooperate with experts, seek solutions and propose a reform policy in order to provide a happy and quality learning environment and system for students. The idea of one-outline-one-text policy and one common Basic Academic Competence Test for Taipei City, Taipei County and Keelung may meet with opposition, but this idea is based on education and aims at education reforms, irrelevant of politics or the rivalry between the local government and the central government. Keelung City, Taipei City and Taipei County belong to the same living community and the same joint recruitment region for senior high schools and vocational schools. In consideration of Keelung students’ right to education and reducing family economic burden, the government will actively participate in and promote the one-outline-one-text policy and one common Basic Academic Competence Test for Taipei City, Taipei County and Keelung.

I have outlined a blueprint of good campuses, good teachers, good students and a quality education environment in my “Municipal Vision: Education Growth”. Specific practices will include a project of creative campus space, a sustainable campus project, a knowledge exchange and management platform, free lunches in elementary schools and junior high schools, reducing each class’ student number in elementary schools and junior high schools, people-oriented education and a lifelong learning environment based on a marine city blueprint. As for disadvantaged group assistance, the government will continue to help children from low-income families, with disabilities, or aboriginal descent, with special conditions and foreign mothers to complete their compulsory education. Thus, we will continue to support the after-school care program introduced by the Ministry of Education in order to take care of more disadvantaged students.

“Cultural Keelung” is the government’s vision to promoting cultural development, and “preservation and innovation” is the basic direction for cultural development. Keelung as a marine city is characterized by cultural diversity, so the strategy to create a diversified local culture has to stress two focal points: promoting Keelung’s intrinsic traditional culture and creating new cultural content in order to achieve the target of creating a Cultural Keelung. For this purpose, the government will actively promote the following projects: (1) planning the construction of museums such as a fishing museum and a mineral museum in accordance with the characteristics of different districts in order to promote cultural tourism; (2) continuing to organize the Mid-Summer Ghost Festival & Art Carnival; (3) popularizing traditional folk activities such as the lion dance in the background of firecrackers; (4) checking local customs and related cultural relics to exalt Keelung’s traditional culture; (5) organizing a Keelung Children’s Art Festival and the Wind-blowing Festival; (6) advancing innovative cultural activities such as street artist performances and certifications to instill new elements; (7) continuing to organize the traditional Hakka Cultural Festival and the aboriginal Harvest Festival to promote aboriginal cultural tourism;(8) improving the functions of the Keelung Story House, the Museum of Historic Relics and the Mid-Summer Ghost Festival Museum for cultural propagation; (9) continuing to promote total community building, set up building points and organize profound cultural tours; (10) conserving historic relics, architecture and cultural assets; (11) researching and planning Cidu Train Station to build a park featuring train culture and researching the old Fishermen’s Association building. In addition, the government will also construct a Keelung marine educational park, and a tourist and recreational park. It is hoped that the resources of local history, culture, science and technology, art, religion, sightseeing, the environment and ecology in the Yang Ming Oceanic Culture and Art Museum, the NMMST, temples, charities and community development associations will be integrated to foster a sense of coexistence, enhancing local cultural characteristics, and developing lively and rich marine culture in order to create new business opportunities for Keelung.