TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taipei City Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) left Wednesday (Sept. 4) on a trip to the United States.

The Sept. 4-14 journey will center on the East Coast, with the mayor visiting city governments in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia. He was planning to exchange views about topics including public transportation, urban planning, manufacturing, and technology, the Liberty Times reported.

Chiang said he wanted to promote Taipei City and to intensify cooperation with the US. The trip will also include a forum discussion with students at the mayor’s alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania.

Reporters asked Chiang what he would do if a typhoon hit Taipei during his absence. The reporters referred to the case of Taichung City Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕), who traveled to the US in July as Typhoon Gaemi was approaching, but had to return to Taiwan shortly after arriving.

Chiang said that during his stay in the US he would stay in close contact with the Taipei Emergency Operation Center (EOC) and with other city government departments. If circumstances changed, he was willing to adjust his itinerary.

The mayor said that sea warnings near Taiwan were unlikely as Typhoon Yagi moved across the Philippines island of Luzon overnight. The storm was heading in a generally westerly direction toward the Chinese island of Hainan, limiting its impact on the weather in Taiwan.