Jungtzer Lin, mayor of Hsinchu City, made his second visit to Cupertino March 6­8. Participating in the parade was only one of the many activities on his busy itinerary, which included visiting the Cupertino Senior Center and the city's new fire station.

The six-person delegation included representatives of Hsinchu City's public works, environmental protection, fire, police and social services departments.

Cupertino and Hsinchu City officially became friendship cities in 1998 and have been in close contact with each other since then.

After Mayor Michael Chang of Cupertino led a 40-person delegation to Hsinchu City in 1998, Lin visited Cupertino in June 2002.

"Cupertino and Hsinchu are similar in that they are both high-tech cities," Lin explained. "We have similar concerns. We should learn from each other and inspire each other."

Lin is interested in learning more about Cupertino's emergency preparedness program and building material recycling methods.

Chang and Lin are planning to increase the number of cultural exchanges between the two cities.

Lin said Hsinchu City is planning to send a delegation and a performing group to participate in the Moon Festival celebration in Cupertino later this year.

And Lin invited Chang to visit Hsinchu City during the Lantern Festival celebration at the beginning of 2004.

Cupertino maintains special bonds with other foreign cities as well, such as Toyokawa, Cupertino's longtime sister city in Japan.

The difference between friendship cities and sister cities is not significant, according to Rick Kitson, Cupertino's public information officer.

According to the guidelines of the International Sister City Association, one of the rules prohibiting the official establishment of a sister city relationship is proximity. Since Hsinchu already has an existing sister city relationship with Santa Clara County, it cannot establish the same relationship with Cupertino, hence Hsinchu is officially a friendship city.