Taking a bird’s eye view of the ongoing process of merging and upgrading cities and counties, the government seems to have handled the matter in a manner completely lacking an academic basis. First, as urban development is irreversible, indivisible and unpredictable, it must be carried out in accordance with a plan rather than through trial and error. Next, the arrangement of three metropolises in the country, in my opinion, is not likely to achieve the desired result of balanced regional development.
Statistical research that I have conducted on the size and distribution of the populations of Taiwan’s rural and urban townships over the last three decades shows that the phenomenon of urban polarization has become increasingly serious.
The next issue is the question of what cities the population has gravitated toward. If we look at how the number of companies have increased in the four major planning divisions — northern, central, southern and eastern Taiwan — we find that companies have “homed in” on the north. In other words, whether we like it or not, under current conditions, the greater Taipei area has been, is and will continue to be the region where companies are concentrated, and this will lead to a natural increase in the local population and economic activities.
My conclusion is therefore that it will be hard to resolve the problem of unbalanced development between the south and the north by upgrading and merging counties and cities.
Some may argue that the increased budgets allotted to the upgraded counties and cities will promote local infrastructure and development as well as attract new residents, but my research shows that the budget allocations will not influence population distribution.
Regardless of politics, the entire county and city merger and upgrades plan betrays the government’s hasty, arbitrary and dictatorial streak in drawing up policies for national land-use planning. It is extremely risky that such an important guideline for national construction has not been publicly discussed and instead was decided by a few review committee members. Furthermore, it will have an impact on the lives of Taiwanese for the next several decades.
These few committee members decided on which counties and cities should be merged and upgraded within a short period, but they have not given the public a full and transparent explanation of their decision-making process.
Such a top-down approach to deciding important national policies, which completely ignores public opinion, does not conform to democratic procedures.
If this kind of decision were to bring about a positive outcome, it could only be attributed to pure luck. What can be anticipated is that the framework of three metropolises will remain the absurd wishful thinking of the government, as the population of Taiwan will continue to gravitate toward the Taipei metropolitan area.
Lai Shih-kung is a professor in the Department of Real Estate and Built Environment at National Taipei University.
TRANSLATED BY TED YANG
As China steps up a campaign to diplomatically isolate and squeeze Taiwan, it has become more imperative than ever that Taipei play a greater role internationally with the support of the democratic world. To help safeguard its autonomous status, Taiwan needs to go beyond bolstering its defenses with weapons like anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles. With the help of its international backers, it must also expand its diplomatic footprint globally. But are Taiwan’s foreign friends willing to translate their rhetoric into action by helping Taipei carve out more international space for itself? Beating back China’s effort to turn Taiwan into an international pariah
Typhoon Krathon made landfall in southwestern Taiwan last week, bringing strong winds, heavy rain and flooding, cutting power to more than 170,000 homes and water supply to more than 400,000 homes, and leading to more than 600 injuries and four deaths. Due to the typhoon, schools and offices across the nation were ordered to close for two to four days, stirring up familiar controversies over whether local governments’ decisions to call typhoon days were appropriate. The typhoon’s center made landfall in Kaohsiung’s Siaogang District (小港) at noon on Thursday, but it weakened into a tropical depression early on Friday, and its structure
Since the end of the Cold War, the US-China espionage battle has arguably become the largest on Earth. Spying on China is vital for the US, as China’s growing military and technological capabilities pose direct challenges to its interests, especially in defending Taiwan and maintaining security in the Indo-Pacific. Intelligence gathering helps the US counter Chinese aggression, stay ahead of threats and safeguard not only its own security, but also the stability of global trade routes. Unchecked Chinese expansion could destabilize the region and have far-reaching global consequences. In recent years, spying on China has become increasingly difficult for the US
Lately, China has been inviting Taiwanese influencers to travel to China’s Xinjiang region to make films, weaving a “beautiful Xinjiang” narrative as an antidote to the international community’s criticisms by creating a Potemkin village where nothing is awry. Such manipulations appear harmless — even compelling enough for people to go there — but peeling back the shiny veneer reveals something more insidious, something that is hard to ignore. These films are not only meant to promote tourism, but also harbor a deeper level of political intentions. Xinjiang — a region of China continuously listed in global human rights reports —
RSS