Taichung last week became the nation’s second-largest city by population and as a growing city, it proves that the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program needs to be passed to support continued growth, Taichung-based Deputy Legislative Speaker Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said.
The Ministry of the Interior on Friday published its newest statistics, which showed that by the end of last month, Taichung’s population exceeded Kaohsiung’s by 309 residents, officially becoming the second-largest of the six special municipalities.
New Taipei City had the biggest population at 3.9 million, while Taichung and Kaohsiung both had about 2.7 million, Taipei came in fourth at 2.68 million, Taoyuan had 2.1 million and Tainan was the smallest, with 1.8 million inhabitants, according to official statistics.
Photo: Su Chin-feng, Taipei Times
The nation’s total recorded population was 23.55 million, an increase of 40,000 from last year, ministry data showed.
Tsai, a member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said that Taichung, long ignored in the national distribution of funds, spent longer coming into its own compared with Taipei and Kaohsiung.
The Forward-looking Program would give Taichung a chance to lead instead of remaining a forgotten rural backwater, he said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yan Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) said Taichung surpassing Kaohsiung was not a coincidence, as the city is home to both a seaport and an airport, and a decreasing crime rate adds to its appeal.
Local industries should ponder how to attract investment and create jobs, and both the municipal and the national government must give attention to falling birth rates if they wish to be “forward looking,” Yan said.
The establishment of special municipalities in 2010 was not the only impetus for Taichung’s growth; the policies of subsequent mayors also played a great role, Yan said.
Kaohsiung, the former second-largest municipality, should give due thought to what Taichung did right, he added.
Meanwhile, DPP Legislator Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟), whose constituency is in Kaohsiung, congratulated Taichung, but said his city’s residents would undoubtedly have experienced mixed emotions upon hearing the news.
Kaohsiung’s failure to change its industry mix from petrochemical factories to new technology and science parks directly contributed to the city developing more slowly over the past four decades, despite an initial population advantage, Chao said.
Chao added that Taichung had seen a more balanced development, whereas in recent years, the population in Kaohsiung’s Fengshan District (鳳山) increased by 40,000, whereas the former city center’s population, as well as that in Gangshan (岡山) and Cishan (旗山) districts had declined.
Industry and urban development should be given equal weight in the debate about Kaohsiung’s future, he said.
KMT Legislator Chen Yi-min (陳宜民), who represents another Kaohsiung constituency, said the city’s relative stagnation was hardly a shock.
A city’s competitive edge is maintained by creating an atmosphere of a city on the rise, he said.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) is hardworking, but judging by the city’s modest population increase over the past 11 years, net decrease over the past two years and net emigration, other city mayors had outperformed her, he said.
Chen Yi-min also pointed to a failure to shift away from petrochemical industries as the main reason for Kaohsiung’s stagnancy.
The gradual phasing out of the petrochemical cluster and lack of new businesses means a net decrease of jobs and a decreased ability to retain students that have come to Kaohsiung to study, and does not encourage former Kaohsiung residents to return, Chen Yi-min said.
‘HIDDEN GEM’: The city earned plaudits for its low crime rate, world-class healthcare system, cheap cost of living and easy public transportation Taipei has been named the 10th best city in the world for quality of living in an annual survey by the editors of Monocle, a UK-based global affairs and lifestyle magazine. The survey, which is to be published in the magazine’s July/August issue, selected the world’s top 25 cities based on factors including cost of living, retail, hospitality, culture and access to green spaces, as well as feedback from Monocle correspondents. Taipei’s 10th place finish was one place down from a year earlier. The survey ranked Copenhagen as the world’s best city, with Zurich, Lisbon, Helsinki and Stockholm rounding out the top five.
GLOBAL STRATEGY: Indo-Pacific alliances need reinforcement to prevent Chinese occupation of Taiwan, which would threaten Japan, Hawaii and Australia, Pompeo said The US should officially recognize Taiwan as a free, independent nation and establish official diplomatic ties, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo told an event at the Hudson Institute in Washington on Friday. Every US president since Harry Truman has considered Taiwan’s existence to be of utmost importance to US national security, Pompeo said. Taiwan is a principal US partner in technology and economic matters, and if China were to capture Taiwan’s semiconductor supply chain, it would severely hamper the US economy, Pompeo said. Should China occupy Taiwan, it would severely weaken US influence in the Indo-Pacific region and its surrounding areas,
NO COMORBIDITIES: The girl died of encephalitis, the sixth COVID-19-related death of the disease this year and 19th death of a child from the virus, the center said The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported 52,213 new domestically transmitted COVID-19 cases and 171 deaths from the virus, including a four-year-old girl, who had been diagnosed with encephalitis, and a 19-year-old man, who had underlying health conditions. “The caseloads are usually higher on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but they [yesterday] fell 7.3 percent from the day before,” Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said. Chuang, who is the CECC’s spokesman, said that most cities and counties reported a drop in new cases, and the CECC expects fewer than 50,000 new cases today. The center said that 150 of
LIMIT: The CECC has capped the number of weekly arrivals to 25,000, which critics said has limited the number of available flights and caused ticket prices to soar The government is not likely to raise the cap on the number of inbound travelers before the end of this month, despite the apparent effect on the number of inbound flights, Minister of Transportation and Communications Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said yesterday. The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Wednesday last week eased quarantine rules for inbound travelers, who must undergo three days of home quarantine upon arrival and spend another four days in self-initiated disease prevention. It also capped the number of inbound travelers to 25,000 per week. The weekly limit has drawn criticism that it has limited the number of flights
RSS