Five Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators representing Taipei County constituencies yesterday called on the government to complete a review of a Taipei County Council proposal for the county to become a special municipality.
“We hope the Ministry of the Interior and the Executive Yuan can complete the review as soon as possible,” KMT Legislator Wu Ching-chih (吳清池) told a press conference.
“Only when Taipei County becomes a special municipality can it enjoy equal footing to negotiate a merger with Taipei City,” Wu said.
KMT Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) said the five legislators were not opposed to a planned merger between Taichung City and Taichung County, but the government “should not discriminate against Taipei County.”
“Taipei County is the most eligible to have its status raised to that of a special municipality. It has a population of 3.84 million people and the population threshold for a special municipality is 1.25 million people, which means Taipei County is qualified three times over,” Lee said.
“The Executive Yuan should know that Taipei County residents would be very disappointed if the county were unable to become a special municipality by the end of this year,” Lee said.
On Monday the Taipei County Council unanimously backed a plan to elevate the county’s status to that of a special municipality.
Taipei County Commissioner Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋) said county residents wanted to be treated the same as Taipei City residents.
Chou also reiterated that he would not seek re-election if the upgrading bid fails.
On April 3 the legislature approved an amendment to the Local Government Act (地方制度法) to allow cities and counties to integrate into special municipalities or to be elevated to a special municipality.
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