Recent problems with waste cooking oil and avian influenza have heightened EPA Minister Kuo-Yen Wei’s（魏國彥）concern for the environmental challenges that local governments face. As a result, on 16 January 2015 Minister Wei visited the new mayor of Taichung City, Mr. Chia-Lung Lin（林佳龍）. They had in-depth discussions on the environmental issues affecting Taichung City and concurred on the need for better controls over air quality in the city. To this end, Minister Wei and Mayor Lin agreed to establish a Taichung Air Pollution Reduction Taskforce and expressed the hope that greater cooperation between central and local governments will lead to more specific measures to protect local environments. As Minister Wei pointed out, although Taichung City is a Grade 2 Air Quality Control Zone, the EPA is still willing to plan and establish the Taichung Air Pollution Reduction Taskforce to maintain Taichung’s air quality. Citizen groups, experts and academics will be invited to join the team. The EPA will also set up more monitoring stations to monitor pollution from Taichung’s mobile pollution sources, so as to improve air quality of the area. Minister Wei also stated that many environmental problems cannot be dealt with by the central or local government acting alone. Many problems are regional in nature and thus need close cooperation and open channels of communication between central and local governments in order to be solved. Mayor Lin expressed his thankfulness to Minister Wei for establishing the air pollution reduction board and the task force. He said this mechanism will facilitate dialogue on air pollution issues among central and local governments and the city’s residents, which will hopefully result in some specific targets being set. Mayor Lin also mentioned that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd （TSMC, 台灣積體電路製造股份有限公司） plans to build a foundry for 10-nanometer semiconductors at Dadu Mountain （大肚山） of Taichung City, saying that the investment was of major importance for Taichung, and that the corporation was very willing to participate in pollution reduction efforts. He also expressed the hope that the fruits of future cooperation between central and local governments would be readily visible to all. Excerpt from Environmental Policy Monthly, 18 (2)