The nation’s five special municipalities, home to 60 percent of the population, began operations yesterday, starting a new phase in Taiwan’s administrative history.
Taipei, New Taipei City (新北市, the proposed name of the upgraded Taipei County), Greater Taichung, Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung began operating as megacities almost one month after the residents of the five municipalities, including Taipei City, chose their mayors in high-profile elections on Nov. 27.
In addition to Taipei City and New Taipei City, the other three cities were expanded through a merger of two administrative districts.
Greater Taichung is the result of a merger of Taichung City and Taichung County; Greater Tainan a merger of Tainan City and Tainan County; and Greater Kaohsiung a merger of Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County.
According to Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺), the change is aimed at making the five megacities “spearheads of Taiwan’s regional development” and “cores of the three living areas of northern, central and southern Taiwan.”
The new system is not likely to affect the everyday life of the 13.7 million residents in the five cities, but integrating local governments and administrative branches are likely to present a big challenge in the cities where mergers took place.
Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung both split their agencies into two parts to keep them in their original office buildings, while Greater Taichung opted for three office buildings in different parts of its administrative area.
Effective yesterday, townships (鄉鎮) and county-administered cities (市) are renamed “districts (區)” and villages (村) will be renamed “boroughs (里).” District chiefs are to be appointed by mayors rather than being elected, as was previously the case.
Township councils have been disbanded, which means thousands of township and city councilmen have lost their jobs.
Newly elected mayors have focused on the financial aspects of the new city governments. Taichung City Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) publicly expressed concern that the city would be in financial trouble if budget allocating procedures and tax regulations were not reformed.
New Taipei City faced a different problem — trying to figure out what to call itself in English. Mayor-elect Eric Chu (朱立倫) has announced that he wanted the new city’s English name to be “New Taipei City,” because Sinbei means “new Taipei” in Chinese.
However, the move was blocked by the Ministry of the Interior for now, with Deputy Interior Minister Chien Tai-lang (簡太郎) saying the ministry would discuss the proposal with Chu at a later date.
Three cases of Candida auris, a fungus that can cause a yeast infection known as candidiasis in humans, have been reported in Taiwan over the past few years, but they did not display drug resistance, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said yesterday. Lo made the statement at a news conference in Taipei, one day after the Washington Post reported that the potentially deadly fungus is spreading in US hospitals. The fungus was first discovered in Japan in 2009 and poses a danger to immunocompromised people, with an estimated mortality rate of 30 to 60 percent, Lo
‘DIRE’: Taiwan would not engage in ‘dollar diplomacy,’ the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, after China reportedly offered Honduras up to US$3 billion to establish relations The government yesterday recalled its ambassador to Honduras after the Central American nation sent its foreign minister to China, signaling that it would sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Suspicions concerning ties with Honduras are rife after Honduran President Xiomara Castro on Tuesday last week wrote on Twitter that her country would pursue diplomatic ties with China. Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique Reina traveled to China on Wednesday “to promote efforts for the establishment of diplomatic relations” on instructions from Castro, Reuters yesterday quoted Honduran presidential spokesman Ivis Alvarado as saying. The government “has decided to immediately recall the ambassador to Honduras
SWITCH TO BEIJING: The government severed diplomatic relations about an hour after Honduras announced the move, saying that no semi-official ties would be maintained Taiwan severed diplomatic ties with Honduras and ended all cooperation with the Central American country, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, about an hour and a half after the Honduran Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Twitter at 8am Taiwan time that the nation would cut its ties with Taiwan. Honduran President Xiomara Castro on Wednesday sent Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique Reina to Beijing to negotiate the establishment of diplomatic relations. She announced the plan on March 14 on Twitter. “To safeguard Taiwan’s sovereignty and dignity, Taiwan is terminating diplomatic ties with Honduras with immediate effect” after communication with
MEDIA, SOCIETY FOCUS: Doublethink Lab said that Beijing is trying to coerce countries that rely on China economically to pursue policies in its favor China has stronger influence over Taiwan’s media and society than any other country, the Taipei-based Doublethink Lab think tank said yesterday, as it announced its China Index gauging Beijing’s global influence. Taiwan ranked 11th overall among 82 countries assessed, but first in terms of social and media influence, Doublethink Lab chairman Puma Shen (沈伯洋) told a news conference in Taipei. More than 200 experts and academics participated in the project, including some highly influential figures, Shen said. The index collects information from countries worldwide to gauge China’s influence and assess how Chinese policies affect them, Shen said. In terms of Chinese
RSS