Hwaseong Special City visits Hangzhou and Wujiang District in China to boost Korea-China local government exchanges

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park Chan-hyuk] Hwaseong Special City embarked on strengthening networking among Korea-China local governments and promoting substantive exchanges through a two-night, three-day visit to China from the 6th to the 8th.

On the 7th, the city delegation visited Wujiang District in Suzhou City, China and held official talks with District Governor Sun Daoxun. This visit was made possible through Wujiang District's official invitation to commemorate Governor Sun's new appointment (September 2025) and the 25th anniversary of the sister city relationship.

Both sides engaged in wide-ranging discussions on expanding cooperation in various fields including culture, sports, economy, and climate policy, which had been discontinued for the past 10 years, and held consultations on resuming regular exchanges and creating new cooperation models.

Participants also planted Hwaseong's city flower, crape myrtle, as a memorial tree in Dongting Lake Ecological Park, a representative landmark of Wujiang District, thereby deepening the friendship between the two cities.

Mayor Jung Myung-geun of Hwaseong City stated, "Taking the Gyeongju APEC Summit as an opportunity, we will strengthen substantive cooperation at the local government level and lay a new foundation for Korea-China exchanges." He added, "Wujiang District is Hwaseong City's first overseas sister city, a long-time friend and reliable partner. We look forward to creating innovative future-oriented city models together through regular exchanges between the two cities."

On the 6th, the delegation visited Hangzhou City and benchmarked smart mobility demonstration cases for implementing the 'autonomous driving living lab' as a national policy task.

Hangzhou City is establishing itself as a leading smart transportation city in China based on the digital transportation system led by Alibaba Group and the commercialization of autonomous buses.

Hangzhou is providing autonomous bus commercial services in eight major districts (Shangcheng District, Shangqing District, etc.) covering 3,473 square kilometers—five times the area of Seoul—as China's first city to introduce autonomous buses.

Hwaseong City is a leading autonomous driving city implementing demonstration projects for level 4 and above autonomous driving public services in eight fields in the Saesol-dong, Namyang, and Dongtan (partial) areas, under the supervision of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Korea Transportation Safety Authority.

Based on this benchmarking, the city plans to complete the construction of related infrastructure including the 'Autonomous Driving Mobility Center' by the end of this year and conduct autonomous driving service demonstrations over two years from next year to 2027 to advance technology and services.

Mayor Jung Myung-geun of Hwaseong City stated, "Through smart mobility diplomacy, we will expand the scope of cooperation in future industries such as autonomous driving and eco-friendly transportation." He added, "We will enhance citizen convenience and build Hwaseong Special City as a future-leading city."