The country may witness a third special municipality in the near future, as the Ministry of Interior confirmed yesterday that the government is working on merging Taichung City and Taichung County for the planned upgrading.
The undertaking, however, enraged DPP Taipei County Commissioner Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), who vowed to resign the day the new municipality is born -- unless his administration is also upgraded.
Minister of the Interior Yu Cheng-hsien (余政憲) yesterday said the government is mulling measures to create a special municipality out of Taichung County and Taichung City in an attempt to balance the nation's development.
Compared with other local governments, the two special municipalities of Taipei and Kaohsiung are entitled to larger shares of tax revenues and enjoy more autonomy and personnel.
Yu said administrators, councilors and lawmakers in Taichung City and Taichung County have all voiced support for the proposed merger.
Together, the two districts have a population of 2.5 million. The greater Taichung area is equipped with a harbor and a military airport, in addition to major department stores and restaurants.
Over the years, many have called for the area to be upgraded to a special municipality. President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) echoed the appeal during his presidential election campaign in 2000.
According to Yu, the Council of Economic Planning and Development is assessing the pros and cons of the planned move. Once the Cabinet gives its seal of approval, the interior ministry will set up an inter-departmental panel to carry out the task, he said.
To that end, the government needs to revise local autonomy rules, as well as laws governing the distribution of tax revenues among different governments.
Cabinet Secretary-General Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said she is not worried about the legal obstacles and that the proposed merger poses the biggest headache.
"The whole thing is still under study," she told reporters yesterday evening.
Liu's statement was seen as a move to placate Su, who cried foul earlier in the day over what he called the Cabinet's discriminatory treatment of his constituency.
"With a population of 3.6 million, Taipei County deserves every right to be upgraded ahead of other counties and cities," Su said.
According to the commissioner, Chen promised to upgrade the counties of Taipei and Taoyuan before winning the presidency.
"He assured me then that Taipei County would have its annual budget increased by NT$60 billion as a special municipality," Su said. "I find it unbelievable that Liu should say she was unaware of the pledge."
Su said the Cabinet apparently failed to give the matter sufficient consideration and that he will argue his case before the president personally.
He threatened to step down if the government refused to heed his concerns.
"I will have no choice but to resign if any other county or city is made a special municipality ahead of Taipei County," Su said. "Or I won't have the nerve to face my constituents."
While sympathizing with the need to more evenly distribute public resources among local governments, the Presidential Office said that the Cabinet had full discretion in this matter and that it trusted the Cabinet's judgment in handling the issue.
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