The Taipei City Government yesterday discussed the possible integration and cooperation of metropolitan regions with four local governments from northern Tai-wan. The participants also signed a memorandum on future collaboration.
The local government heads who participated are all members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) -- Taoyuan County Commissioner Chu Li-lun (朱立倫), Hsinchu County Commissioner Cheng Yung-chin (鄭永金), Hsinchu City Mayor Lin Junq-tzer (林政則), Keelung City Mayor Hsu Tsai-li (許財利) and Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
Taipei County Commissioner Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), a member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), declined to take part in yesterday's conference, which was held at the Taipei City Hall.
Taipei County is the largest administrative district in northern Taiwan.
KMT Chairman Lien Chan (連戰), the pan-blue camp's presidential candidate, proposed merging the administrations of Taipei City and Taipei County and restructuring administrative districts at a campaign rally on Dec. 13 last year.
Lien said that his idea was based on a global trend of creating integrated district governments to improve productivity.
His proposal has been met with increasingly intense debate, and Ma and Su have discussed the issue on several occasions.
Taipei County's Deputy Commissioner Lin Hsi-yao (林錫耀) said yesterday that Su had decided not to take part because the conference was held at a sensitive time.
"Taipei County basically supports the idea of integration and cooperation between metropolitan regions, but the concept proposed by the KMT is still vague and incomplete," he said.
He did not deny that Taipei County's absence was due to political considerations.
"It is obvious that the conference was held to endorse Lien's platform. It's hardly reasonable to expect Taipei County to participate in such a conference, which is basically a pledge rally for the pan-blue camp," Lin Hsi-yao said.
But the five KMT local government heads all denied that the conference had anything to do with the presidential election, saying it was focused on "the future generations of Taiwan."
"I believe that the whole event was apolitical. It is about people's lives and the country's competitiveness," Chu said.
Ma said that, although the restructuring of administrative areas touches on the redistribution of political interests, "it does not mean that we have to deal with the issue politically," Ma said.
He said that many experts and academics participated in yesterday's conference.
"Could it be said that they were all canvassing votes for the pan-blue camp?" Ma asked.
According to Lin Hsi-yao, Taipei County's Bureau of Planning and Housing Development (
"Lien's idea about a regional government was part of the presidential campaign, and so was the conference," Lin Hsi-yao said.
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