Back in January 2023, Shih Che resigned as Kaohsiung’s deputy mayor to become Minister of Culture, and since then the southern city has been without one of its three deputy mayors. On Tuesday, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai confirmed that Lee Huai-jen will become the city’s third deputy mayor after Lee resigns as a deputy digital minister following the May 20 presidential inauguration.

Chen Chi-mai
Kaohsiung mayor
Deputy Digital Minister Lee Huai-jen has expertise in smart city innovations and bringing about digital transformation, so we want to lean on his experience to help us strengthen Kaohsiung’s city government.

Chen Chi-mai confirmed that there’ll be personnel changes in the cabinet after the presidential inauguration on May 20. Currently serving as a deputy digital minister, Lee Huai-jen will be assuming office as deputy mayor. Lee is seen as being part of Su Tseng-chang’s camp, and has a long relationship with Chen. Lee’s experience includes being the chair of the iPASS Corporation and serving as office director of Chen Chi-mai back when Chen was vice premier. Lee’s expertise is in digital governance and smart city innovations. During the COVID pandemic Lee played a central role in the government’s nation-wide mask rationing program and contact tracing system.

Voice of Lee Huai-jen
Deputy digital minister
I worked with Mayor Chen in the past, and we got along with each other very well. As for creating a smart city, Mayor Chen made a point of having me start doing research that will help all the industries in Kaohsiung be able to undergo the digital transformation process.

Lee will be taking over Shih Che’s position, which has been vacant since Shih resigned to become Minister of Culture back in January 2023. Both KMT and DPP are looking forward to what Lee can contribute to the southern city.

Pai Chiao-Yin
KMT Kaohsiung City councilor
Our third deputy mayor under Chen Chi-mai’s administration will be Lee Huai-jen, and he is an expert in digital technology. I think he’s a good pick, but we’d like to remind Lee that he needs to get things done instead of stopping things from getting done.

Lee Po-yi
DPP lawmaker
This new generation of city governance is something Deputy Mayor Lee is well-equipped to handle. We really look forward to Deputy Mayor Lee being a part of the city government; he’ll truly be able to accomplish a lot.

Now that the city’s new deputy mayor has been confirmed, the city government will finally be able to get back to work with a full staff.

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