TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Kaohsiung City Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) wants to attract more investors to his city like making sharks smell blood, while also turning it into a bilingual Chinese-English hub.

In an interview with International Community Radio Taipei (ICRT) a week after taking office, the mayor acknowledged that the slogans and promises he had launched during his election campaign might be harder to turn into reality than expected.

Han reportedly compared his efforts to make investors come to Kaohsiung with sharks smelling blood, adding he would offer commercial opportunities likely to encourage businesses to take a stake in the city.

Since the interview was conducted in English, the new mayor also elaborated on his plans to turn Kaohsiung into a bilingual city. Han presented four stages, with first English-language teachers working at two to three different schools, with a second stage adding English to all signs and billboards in the city. The third stage would have city employees, including police officers and fire fighters, improve their English, resulting in a fourth and final phase where ordinary citizens would feel encouraged to learn and use English, Han told ICRT.