Taiwan Today

The designation of administrative divisions is the foundation for the implementation of local-level governance and the governing and management of a country as a whole. The Republic of China (ROC) Constitution, which stipulates the administrative power and system of local governments, was promulgated in 1947 and the designation of administrative divisions in Taiwan was completed in 1950. In the following six decades, except for some small adjustments in the cities of Taipei, Kaohsiung and Hsinchu, the designations remained unchanged. Then, on December 25 last year, just as the ROC’s centennial arrived, three new special municipalities joined the original two and adjustments to their administrative divisions were made accordingly. These adjustments fit the needs of the country, help promote the competitive edge of these special municipalities and serve as a foundation for the redevelopment of Taiwan’s economy.

When the government was designating administrative divisions after Taiwan’s retrocession in 1945, the “prefecture” system used by the Japanese colonial government was abolished and in its place eight counties and nine provincial cities were designated. The administrative districts were reclassified by the Constitution into two levels—provinces and special municipalities (directly controlled municipalities)—as well as counties and provincial cities. The central government, which relocated from mainland China to Taiwan in 1949, took geographical differences, transportation, living circles and other factors into consideration and, in August 1950, adjusted the divisions to form 16 counties and five provincial cities in Taiwan Province. The result was a total of 23 counties and cities with the addition of offshore Kinmen County and Lienchiang County in Fujian Province. At that point, Taiwan’s administrative division system was firmly established.

Big Cities, Special Status

During the past six decades, three small-scale rezoning projects for local administration were conducted in Taiwan. Taipei and Kaohsiung cities were elevated from provincial municipality to special municipality status in 1967 and 1979 respectively by merging several townships from neighboring counties. The Executive Yuan approved the upgrades, taking into consideration each city’s population of more than 1 million residents and respective political, economic and cultural significance. In 1982, the central government approved the elevation of Hsinchu and Chiayi cities from county municipality to provincial municipality status in view of their populations of more than 200,000.

Among other things, the upgrades of Taipei, Kaohsiung, Hsinchu and Chiayi cities indicate that during the postwar era through the early 1980s, social stability, strong economic growth and increasing industrialization resulted in a rapidly growing population that tended to move to and settle in major cities. In the meantime, greater development and more job opportunities in major cities also led to the emergence of satellite townships in surrounding areas that attracted many people from farming villages seeking new lives, jobs and economic opportunities. Therefore, by the time Taipei, Kaohsiung, Hsinchu and Chiayi gained their higher status as a special or provincial municipality, they had actually expanded their living circles and developed areas to incorporate their satellite townships and had effectively extended prosperity and progress to the areas surrounding the city centers. All these factors made for a successful phase of local administrative rezoning.

In 1997, the ROC promulgated constitutional amendments in order to streamline its provincial government, the jurisdiction of which overlapped greatly with that of the central government. The move was a means to avoid overlapping government structures and wasting financial resources.

Since the 1990s, however, frequent disputes have occurred over the distribution of national financial resources and a growing imbalance in regional development. Coupled with the issues of expanded urban living circles and an increase in cross-regional administrative and developmental issues, increasingly loud voices from different sectors have called for rezoning the administrative regions. Indeed, many of Taiwan’s cities and regions have been too small in scale for significant future development, and therefore have faced obstacles in competing against other regions around the world. In order to remove such great obstacles to Taiwan’s advancement and development, promotion of the administrative rezoning work is crucial.

In view of this, President Ma Ying-jeou pledged during his 2008 presidential election campaign to merge Taichung City and County and elevate the resultant region to special municipality status, as well as redraw Taiwan’s administrative regions. Soon after he took office, President Ma instructed the Executive Yuan to draw up measures merging and upgrading cities and counties, as well as upgrading individual counties into special municipalities. According to these measures and with the approval of local governments and councils, any city or county that meets central government requirements can apply to be upgraded into a special municipality.

At the end of June 2009, the Executive Yuan approved the upgrade of Taipei County into a special municipality, the mergers of Taichung City and County and Tainan City and County into two special municipalities, and the merger of Kaohsiung City and County into another special municipality. Therefore, as of December 25, 2010, Taiwan saw a total of five special municipalities—Taipei City, New Taipei City, Taichung City (the merger of Taichung City and County), Tainan City (the merger of Tainan City and County) and Kaohsiung City (with Kaohsiung County incorporated into Kaohsiung City). As a result, Taiwan’s new administrative map now shows the overall addition of three special municipalities. In addition to a Greater Taipei area, Taiwan will also see the birth of three more metropolitan areas in Greater Taichung, Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung.

Unity, Efficiency

With the five special municipalities at its core, the newly drawn administrative map is important for a number of reasons for Taiwan’s future development in this century. First, it unifies administrative power and enhances efficiency. With the expansion of a metropolitan area under a large special municipality, authorities should be able to plan for the development of a region as a whole in terms of its water supply, traffic system, garbage disposal, water treatment facilities, river management, living environment, social security, leisure environment, protection of disadvantaged groups, balanced development of industrial sectors, urban greening, education, and administrative management. Thus, there will be improvements in local administrative efficiency and quality of life.

Secondly, the new local governments can pursue balanced regional development and bridge the urban-rural divide. The aim of redrawing Taiwan’s administrative map is to accelerate the formation of three urban living circles—in northern, central and southern Taiwan—as well as seven major administrative districts: Taipei City, New Taipei City, Keelung and Yilan; Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli; Taichung, Changhua and Nantou; Yunlin, Chiayi and Tainan; Kaohsiung and Pingtung; Hualien and Taitung; and Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu.

Based on the concept of regional development, the rezoning program makes the five special municipalities core locations that can solicit the cooperation of neighboring city and county governments. Combined with complementary measures for administrative and financial reform, this will enable a reduction in the divide between urban and rural areas, as well as between regional districts, and will lead to joint progress within the districts.

Thirdly, the areas will be better able to utilize their competitive advantages and link with the world on a comprehensive scale. Taiwan’s five special municipalities each feature distinctive characteristics and thus have different directions for international development. Taipei City, Taiwan’s capital, is the base for Taiwan’s aspiration to be included in a Northeast Asia flight circle. That, combined with the huge population and land resources of New Taipei City, can build the Greater Taipei region into one of the exceptional international metropolitan areas of East Asia. The new Taichung City is the commercial and industrial center of the central part of the island. Given the increasing number of cross-strait economic and trade exchanges, the Greater Taichung area should be able to create a niche for economic development and become an important base for Taiwan’s interactions with mainland China, as long as it can consolidate its existing air and sea transportation networks. The new Tainan City is a cultural stronghold that possesses abundant locales with cultural and historical significance. It has the potential to become a major resource in Taiwan’s cultural promotion on the international stage. Meanwhile, the new Kaohsiung City commands a superior geographical advantage with its airports and harbors and thus has the ability to develop relations southward with ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) economies, as well as to cultivate ties with these important economic and trading partners.

In sum, Taiwan’s five special municipalities all possess their own competitive advantages and local features. If their respective local leadership roles and capabilities can be further enhanced through effective governance, they are likely to grow into global cities, consequently enabling Taiwan to link with the world on a comprehensive scale and stimulating a new wave of sustainable growth for Taiwan’s overall development.

Finally, each of the new special municipalities can expand its overall advantage and improve the country’s competitiveness. As Taiwan’s new administrative districts, the special municipalities not only serve as centers of politics, economics, society and culture, but also expand the transportation links, as well as geographical and cultural advantages, of the regions. With their extended urban and business areas, as well as the availability of existing or new international airports, science parks or industrial parks, the five special municipalities are in a strong position to carry out the large-scale development of their competitive industries. This is especially true of trade with major cities both in Taiwan and mainland China given the presence of direct cross-strait flights. Thus, each of the cities will be in a position to become an international-level metropolis that possesses trade strength, forms a trade link between Taiwan and mainland China and serves as an important part of the economy of Eastern Asia, thereby improving national competitiveness and enhancing Taiwan’s economic growth.

The Republic of China was established a century ago and its central government has existed on Taiwan for the past 60 years. The international situation has changed during that time, and therefore Taiwan needs new thinking to catch up with the development of the rest of the world. The establishment of the five special municipalities and expansion of urban administrative regions that the government has been promoting are policies that the nation needs, and which follow world trends. In the future, the five special municipalities will be at the core of Taiwan’s development. Our country should improve national land planning, strengthen local self-government and implement the rational distribution of national financial resources in order to improve the efficiency of local government and develop urban living areas. It is hoped that each special municipality can become a metropolitan hub and help strengthen the trade competitiveness of its region, which, in turn, can then achieve the goal of sharing resources and reaping mutual rewards. The new special municipalities are expected to create high quality urban living environments and thus establish a solid foundation for a better future for Taiwan.

—Translated by Taiwan Review
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Chao Yung-mao is dean of the College of Social Sciences of National Taiwan University and served on the Ministry of the Interior panel in 2009 that reviewed proposed changes in Taiwan’s administrative boundaries.