Executive Yuan Spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) said yesterday that the government would soon provide an explanation on why the applications from some of the counties looking for an upgrade to special municipality status were accepted while others were turned down.
Su said an explanation would be forthcoming once the review process had been completed.
It is expected that the result of the Executive Yuan’s deliberations on whether Tainan County and Tainan City can be merged into a special municipality will be made public by next Thursday at the latest.
The Local Government Act (地方制度法) states that the final decision, following the preliminary review by a temporary committee of 10 officials and 15 academics, rests with the Executive Yuan.
The committee unanimously approved the upgrade of Taipei County to a municipality and the merger and upgrade of Kaohsiung County and Kaohsiung City, as well as Taichung County and Taichung City. However, it rejected proposals by Taoyuan County and Changhua County to be upgraded to municipalities and the merger and upgrade application filed by Yunlin County and Chiayi County.
Members of the committee were divided on the merger and upgrade plan for Tainan County and Tainan City.
Su said that the Executive Yuan would not refer the issue to President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) before making a final decision as “the review is an internal process within the Executive Yuan.”
He made the comments in response to a report in yesterday’s Chinese-language United Daily News that said the issue would be discussed during Ma’s weekly meeting with Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄), Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Po-hsiung (吳伯雄), to be held on Tuesday.
In related news, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) said the KMT would not be frightened if the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) nominated DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and former premiers Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) to stand in the year-end special municipality mayoral elections, as suggested in a “dream candidates list” proposed by the DPP caucus.
KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇), who is alleged to be eyeing the Taipei County commissioner seat, said the KMT would be fully prepared whether Tsai were to enter the Taipei City or Taipei County races or not.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG
Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials including Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) are to be summoned for questioning and then transferred to prosecutors for holding an illegal assembly in Taipei last night, the Taipei Police said today. Chu and two others hosted an illegal assembly and are to be requested to explain their actions, the Taipei City Police Department's Zhongzheng (中正) First Precinct said, referring to a protest held after Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹), KMT Taipei's chapter director, and several other KMT staffers were questioned for alleged signature forgery in recall petitions against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. Taipei prosecutors had filed
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,
RSS