The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) yesterday rebutted accusations by Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) that the central government was delaying the merger of Taichung City and Taichung County.
“The central government is asking local governments to take the initiative in pushing for city-county mergers and the upgrade of administrative status in accordance with the resolution passed by the legislature and public opinion,” the ministry said in a statement yesterday.
“This approach should not be seen as an attempt to delay the process,” it said.
The ministry made the statement in response to remarks by Hu during a local government heads meeting on Saturday, where he accused the central government of not taking a more active role in pushing for the mergers.
Amendments to the Local Government Act (地方制度法) passed by the Legislative Yuan earlier this month stipulate that cities and counties can merge to meet the population threshold to gain the administrative status of a directly administrated city.
A city under direct Cabinet administration is entitled to bigger budgets.
In addition to the amendments, the legislature adopted a resolution asking the central government not to take the initiative and to allow local governments to push for mergers and administrative status upgrades.
However, Hu said that through inaction the central government was delaying the process, which could have a negative impact on local development and result in public complaints.
Dismissing Hu’s accusation, the ministry said the central government had begun planning for the mergers and upgrades as far back as 2000, before the amendments were passed.
The ministry said that rather than ask the central government to move a little faster on the issue, Taichung City should be the one responsible for speeding up the process.
“In fact, as the Taichung County Council has already passed the city-council merger proposal [on Friday], the ministry expects the Taichung City Council to pass the proposal as soon as possible and submit it to the ministry so that the process can be completed,” the statement said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai