Letters mailed to Lienchiang County, which includes the island of Matsu, often go astray. The reason: China also has a Lienchiang County, which is just a few kilometers from Taiwan's.
The "small three links," initiated in January 2001, allow trade, mail and people to cross the small stretch of water between Taiwan's Kinmen and Lienchiang counties and China's Fujian Province.
The new links between the two government agencies with the name Lienchiang County sometimes leave the mailmen baffled.
To end to the confusion, the Lienchiang County Government under Taiwan's control recently proposed surveying its residents on whether the county's name should be changed to Matsu, a name more familiar to the public.
"Ever since we started implementing the `small three links,' cases of mail being misdelivered -- because of confusion between my county and that of China's -- are frequent," said Lienchiang County Commissioner Chen Hsueh-sheng (
The confusion is a legacy of the Chinese civil war. In 1949, the retreating KMT forces took control of the province of Taiwan and also of Kinmen and Matsu, which are part of Fujian Province.
All of Kinmen County came under the KMT's control, but only part of Lienchiang County.
The opening of direct mail links between the two sides has now brought the situation to a head, Chen said.
"I personally have no specific preference as to whether the county's name should stay as Lienchiang or be changed to Matsu," said Chen, who is a member of the PFP. "The proposal is suggested purely to put an end to all the arguments over the county's name."
Aside from problems of missing mail, Chen said that many locals advocated the name change because Matsu is a more commonly used name.
Most of people in Taiwan know the 19 islets that make up Taiwan-controlled Lienchiang County as Matsu rather than by its official name.
"People who wish to have the county's name changed to Matsu said that Matsu was a name that's more well-known and recognizable to outsiders and has a higher profile in the international community," Chen said.
Chen, however, also noted that there were some locals who opposed the name change because it smacked of the independence stance held by the DPP government.
"Some people are concerned that to change the county's name would seem to support former president Lee Teng-hui's (
Chen was referring to comments by Lee that called on Taiwanese to forge a new Constitution and change the nation's name from the Republic of China to Taiwan.
"Some, who want to uphold the historical name of Lienchiang, regard any change to the county's name as a precursor to Taiwan's independence," Chen said.
The commissioner also said that because the county has only 9,000 residents, some feared that pushing for the name change would give central government politicians an excuse to abrogate Lienchiang's status as a county.
"Given all these various opinions on whether the county should change its name, we hope a majority stance can be ascertained through a survey, thereby ending the arguments," Chen said.
The county government has hired a polling company to carry out the survey, he said.
"The firm has just finished a series of explanatory meetings around the islands on this matter," Chen said. "The survey is likely to be held no later than June."
He said the survey would then be distributed to all households.
"If 70 to 80 percent of the people agree to have the county's name changed, then the county government will go ahead and submit the proposal to the county council," Chen said.
"If the county council passes the proposal, then it will take the issue to the Ministry of the Interior to begin the procedure to change the name," he said.
While this procedure is mandated in the Law on Local Government Systems (地方制度法), Lienchiang's move would set a precedent.
"So far, no local government has made such a request," said Lin Mei-chu (
ONGOING PROBE: A former Military Intelligence Bureau colonel, major general and another colonel, as well as five other people, have been questioned by prosecutors The Taipei District Court yesterday ordered that a retired colonel from the Military Intelligence Bureau (MIB) calling himself Taiwan’s “first special agent” be detained and held incommunicado as part of an ongoing investigation into espionage allegations targeting at least three former bureau officials. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office was seeking to detain former MIB colonel Chang Chao-jan (張超然) over his alleged involvement in introducing retired agents to Chinese national security authorities and passing confidential documents to China. Chang’s actions, if proven, would contravene the National Security Act (國家安全法), which carries a prison term of three to 10 years, and the National Intelligence
The US House of Representatives’ China Task Force, launched by Republicans earlier this year, yesterday proposed the China task force act, a package of 137 pieces of legislation, seven of which involve Taiwan, in the hope of getting it passed before the 117th US Congress convenes on Jan. 3. The act encompasses a wide range of issues, including combatting Beijing’s influence around the globe, establishing the US’ dominance in determining 5G network standards and means for bringing UN members to task for abusing their influence within the UN system. The seven acts involving Taiwan address concerns such as the Taiwan Assurance Act
Chinese health authorities investigating a COVID-19 outbreak have said that they discovered live coronavirus on frozen food packaging, a finding that suggests the virus can survive in cold supply chains. The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Saturday said that it had found traces of live COVID-19 on the outer packaging of frozen cod in the eastern city of Qingdao, marking the first time that live coronavirus has been detected on the outside of refrigerated goods. Researchers were investigating the source of a cluster of cases linked to a hospital in Qingdao. Genetic traces had previously been found in samples of
A Chinese soldier apprehended earlier this week by the Indian Army after he strayed across a tense de facto border was on Tuesday night handed back to China, an Indian government source in New Delhi said yesterday. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldier had on Monday been captured in the Demchok area of eastern Ladakh, the Indian Army said in a statement. The Chinese military also released a statement, saying that Corporal Wang Yalong was handed over early yesterday. New Delhi on Monday said that it had detained Wang after he crossed into Indian-controlled territory, while China announced that Wang had gotten
RSS