The nation’s five special municipalities, home to 60 percent of the population, began operations yesterday, starting a new phase in Taiwan’s administrative history.
Taipei, New Taipei City (新北市, the proposed name of the upgraded Taipei County), Greater Taichung, Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung began operating as megacities almost one month after the residents of the five municipalities, including Taipei City, chose their mayors in high-profile elections on Nov. 27.
In addition to Taipei City and New Taipei City, the other three cities were expanded through a merger of two administrative districts.
Greater Taichung is the result of a merger of Taichung City and Taichung County; Greater Tainan a merger of Tainan City and Tainan County; and Greater Kaohsiung a merger of Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County.
According to Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺), the change is aimed at making the five megacities “spearheads of Taiwan’s regional development” and “cores of the three living areas of northern, central and southern Taiwan.”
The new system is not likely to affect the everyday life of the 13.7 million residents in the five cities, but integrating local governments and administrative branches are likely to present a big challenge in the cities where mergers took place.
Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung both split their agencies into two parts to keep them in their original office buildings, while Greater Taichung opted for three office buildings in different parts of its administrative area.
Effective yesterday, townships (鄉鎮) and county-administered cities (市) are renamed “districts (區)” and villages (村) will be renamed “boroughs (里).” District chiefs are to be appointed by mayors rather than being elected, as was previously the case.
Township councils have been disbanded, which means thousands of township and city councilmen have lost their jobs.
Newly elected mayors have focused on the financial aspects of the new city governments. Taichung City Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) publicly expressed concern that the city would be in financial trouble if budget allocating procedures and tax regulations were not reformed.
New Taipei City faced a different problem — trying to figure out what to call itself in English. Mayor-elect Eric Chu (朱立倫) has announced that he wanted the new city’s English name to be “New Taipei City,” because Sinbei means “new Taipei” in Chinese.
However, the move was blocked by the Ministry of the Interior for now, with Deputy Interior Minister Chien Tai-lang (簡太郎) saying the ministry would discuss the proposal with Chu at a later date.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique