Taoyuan County’s strategic location, relatively young population, and strong industrial base could see it emerge as a major regional transportation hub and national growth driver in the coming years, Taoyuan County Commissioner John Wu (吳志揚) said on Saturday.
Wu made the remarks at a forum on city competitiveness, where he said that the county, which will be upgraded to a special municipality by the end of the year, has the potential to play a significant role in boosting regional development.
The county has a population of 2.05 million with an average age of 37, the second-youngest of the nation’s cities and counties after Hsinchu, Wu said.
Those assets and the county’s industrial strength clearly qualify it for the status upgrade that will put it on par administratively with the nation’s five other special municipalities: Taipei, New Taipei City, Greater Taichung, Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung, Wu said.
Taoyuan is home to 29 industrial parks and more than 10,000 factories with combined revenue of more than NT$3 trillion (US$100 billion) a year, the highest among all administrative districts for 10 consecutive years, Wu said.
At the same time, the county is also planning to position itself as a transportation, logistics and commercial hub in the Asia-Pacific region by linking the country with the rest of the region through its ambitious Taoyuan Aerotropolis project, he added.
The commissioner said the project — aimed at establishing an industrial, commercial, residential and a free economic pilot zone around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, as well as expanding it — is one of 12 major infrastructure projects launched by President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration, and could inject NT$2.3 trillion into the local economy and create 300,000 jobs.
Once the green line of the Taoyuan MRT, the construction of which will begin next year, comes into service in 2021, it could significantly help cut down the time needed to travel from downtown Taoyuan to the airport and other urban centers, he said.
By then, “all of Taoyuan will be the hinterland of development for the aerotropolis,” said Wu, who is seeking re-election in the November nine-in-one polls that would make him the first mayor of Taoyuan as a special municipality.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS