Visit Is Just For Business, Says Kaohsiung Mayor

Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu has deflected all political questions on the first day of his high-profile cross-strait trip, saying he wants to concentrate on business.

After he arrived in Hong Kong on Friday morning, Han stressed time and again that his week-long tour of Hong Kong, Macau, Shenzhen and Xiamen is meant to boost economic cooperation and facilitate "emotional exchanges".

The Beijing-friendly politician refrained from answering reporters' questions about his views on One Country, Two Systems, or whether he'd consider running in the Taiwan presidential election next year.

Han met Chief Executive Carrie Lam at Government House on Friday morning, where they discussed trade over lunch.

He then attended an agricultural and fisheries expo at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai, where the Kaohsiung delegation secured seven contracts with the SAR worth almost HK$590 million.

Han said there's great potential for Kaohsiung to export more agricultural products to the SAR, and called for greater economic cooperation.

The Taiwanese politician caused an upset last November when he defeated the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in their Kaohsiung stronghold.

He had run on a platform of economic growth and fighting air pollution.

The victory made him a rising star in the opposition Kuomintang party, which supports the One China principle. He is now seen by many as a potential presidential challenger to the governing DPP.