Continuing to draw fire over its plans for local government reform in regard to changes in the status of special municipalities, the Cabinet, after receiving the Ministry of the Interior's (MOI) draft proposal yesterday, immediately sent it back to the MOI without setting a deadline for its resubmission.
The Cabinet cited a need to address "practical problems" that reform might present and to devolve certain powers in such a way as to optimize local autonomy.
"The premier wants the MOI to gather more opinions from differing perspectives, and he wants the proposal to be more comprehensive and sophisticated," said Minister Without Portfolio Yeh Jiunn-rong (
The MOI was ordered to submit the proposal for local government system reform in February. The proposal, which was released by the MOI last week, included reducing the disparities between the special municipalities of Taipei and Kaohsiung Cities and other local governments and canceling elections for township chiefs, village representatives and borough-wardens.
Under the proposal, the central government would grant more authority to local governments to appoint heads of departments within their bureaucracies. Currently, the central government has the power to appoint people to such posts. Under the MOI's plan, except for the police department and the government ethics department, local commissioners and mayors would have the power to appoint all of their government's top executives.
"The committee agrees with the MOI proposal's direction for reform, but the premier hopes the ministry will address the practical problems that could arise from reform and prepare contingency measures accordingly," said Cabinet spokesman Chuang Suo-hang (
Chuang didn't specify what risks or practical problems he was referring to.
Minister of the Interior Yu Cheng-hsien (
Yu said that his department would seek more opinions from other government departments. He also said that his department is required to submit a new proposal to the committee's next meeting, which is yet to be scheduled.
The Taipei City Government's strong opposition to the MOI's proposal last week is widely believed to be at the root of the premier's concerns.
"We want to submit a proposal for the long term. The Taipei City government is just politicizing the issue," Yu added.
Yeh added that the committee would transfer as many powers and functions as it can to local governments and civil organizations.
"The central government will avoid performing tasks that local governments can do, and governments will avoid doing things that civil organizations can do," Yeh said.
Aside from focusing on the reform of the local government system, the committee is also working on revising the functions of all central government departments and is pushing civil organizations to take over some of government's works.
The Central Personnel Administration's proposal to promote the partnership between the government and civil organizations, including the use of the resources of civil organizations in public affairs, was passed in yesterday's committee meeting.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
RSS