Hualien County has been a rising star among the nation’s counties, having been able to repay more than NT$1.2 billion (US$40 million) of its debt and NT$600 million in interest, as well as achieving positive growth in almost all sectors.
In a recent interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper), independent Hualien County Commissioner Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) said Hualien residents can see with their own eyes how far the county has come during the four years under his governance, rather than just rely on what he called cold statistics.
Fu said he wanted a general and balanced development for the county and that he endeavored to give equal attention to education, finance, environmental protection and the county’s visibility in terms of the international community.
Faced with a daunting NT$13.3 billion debt from the previous commissioner, Fu made debt repayment his primary goal, based on the concept that one should not burden future generations with the debts of their forebears.
Fu’s efforts cleared NT$1.2 billion from the slate and led Hualien to be the only county government to pay back debt for three consecutive years.
“Hualien will only have a future once the county debt has been settled,” Fu said.
Fu said his insistence on paying back debt has not harmed the county’s economic growth; Hualien’s national tax income since he took office has increased by NT$1 billion, or 15 percent, while local revenue has increased by NT$340 million, or 17.4 percent.
Fu also accented the importance of Hualien’s need to connect with the international community and said that his policies have led to exponential growth in international flights passing through Hualien.
The county won second place in the “D” category of Livable Community’s (LivCom) Whole City Awards last year, Fu said, adding that Hualien has made a good start and he hoped to continue to make Hualien a common sight on international event programs.
The LivCom Awards seek to encourage best practices, innovation and leadership in providing a vibrant, environmentally sustainable community that improves the quality of life. The “D” category covers population centers with 150,001 to 400,000 residents.
In terms of education, Hualien was the first county in the nation to implement completely free elementary-school admission by waiving fees for lunch, admission, class aides and books.
Fu has also invested the foremost amount of funding in the county government’s water regulation projects and the its medical tourism industry is also top-notch.
The county’s 3.8 percent unemployment rate is not only lower than the national rate of 4 percent, but the county also ranks second in the nation in the number of people gainfully employed.
Speaking of how he recently visited a pomelo orchard after Typhoon Matmo hit the nation in July, Fu said one of the farmers was extremely touched that he made the visit so soon after the storm.
“I held in my hands the trust the people had [in the county government] and I knew how heavy such burden can be; I hope only to repay their trust with redoubled efforts [on beneficial policies,]” Fu said, adding that he has donated all of his pay as county commissioner every half year.
As of March, he had donated more than NT$8.8 million to help improve the county, he added.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
RSS