Taiwan Today

The merger of Tainan County and City was approved by the Cabinet June 29, giving Taiwan five special municipalities and 17 cities and counties by the end of next year. The Cabinet’s decision follows its greenlighting last week of mergers between Taichung City and County, Kaohsiung City and County, and their upgrading along with Taipei County to special municipalities. A Ministry of the Interior review commission split evenly June 23 over the merger of Tainan City and Tainan County. The Cabinet planned to discuss the case July 1, but decided to advance this by two days. Tainan’s historical and cultural importance persuaded the Cabinet to approve the upgrade. According to Premier Liu Chao-shiuan, Taoyuan County—with its existing advantages and a population of 1.96 million—is expected to become Taiwan’s sixth special municipality in the future, despite being left out of this round of upgrades. After the rezoning, local government elections slated to take place at the end of this year will be postponed till next year for the newly upgraded municipalities. The Cabinet’s decision not only redraws local territories, but also reshuffles local political forces and affects future interaction between central and local governments. In addition, the Cabinet is also proposing to develop the country into “three urban communities and seven regions,” which is seen as a realization of President Ma Ying-jeou’s original concept of remapping the country into three municipalities and 15 counties. The seven regions are Taipei City, Taipei County, Keelung City and Yilan County; Taoyuan County, Hsinchu County, Hsinchu City and Miaoli County; a merged Taichung County and City, Changhua County and Nantou County; a merged Tainan County and Tainan City, Yunlin County and Chiayi County; a merged Kaohsiung County and Kaohsiung City and Pingtung County; Hualien County and Taitung County; and the islands of Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu. A regional development committee will be set up for each region. Jiang Yi-huah, minister of the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission, said the five special municipalities would play the role of locomotives for development in these regions. Liu said the proposed remapping of Taiwan’s administrative zones is being undertaken with a view to enhancing national competitiveness. The Cabinet is expected to pass the proposals at a July 2 meeting. Separately, the premier said the government will draft legislation covering the development of the Hualien and Taitung area, and implement the “Offshore Islands Construction Act.” Legislation in favor of the country’s indigenous peoples is also being drawn up. Liu has instructed related agencies to submit supplementary bills and start administrative preparations for implementing these policies.(PCT-JSM)