Taoyuan County will become the nation’s sixth special municipality, effective Dec. 25 next year, the Cabinet decided at a meeting yesterday.
Taiwan currently has five special municipalities after the upgrade of New Taipei City (新北市), previously named Taipei County, the upgrades of a merged Taichung County and Taichung City and a merged Tainan County and Tainan City and the incorporation of Kaohsiung County into Kaohsiung City, which all took effect in December 2010, along with Taipei.
The Cabinet meeting yesterday approved the proposal submitted by the Ministry of the Interior to upgrade Taiyuan County, after which it will enjoy greater autonomy and a larger budget.
Upgrading Taoyuan County, with more resources directed to its government, is expected to spur regional development in neighboring Hsinchu and Miaoli counties, Premier Sean Chen (陳冲) told the Cabinet meeting.
Taoyuan County first applied for upgraded status in 2009, but it was passed over in favor of Greater Taichung, Greater Tainan and Greater Tainan.
After it reached a population threshold of 2 million in June 2011, the county government adopted the same administrative and budgeting rules as special municipalities to show its determination to upgrade its status.
Aborigines in Fusing Township (復興) opposed the upgrade plan because they would lose some of their autonomy. Under the Local Government Act (地方制度法), administrative heads of sub-units of a municipal city, namely districts, are designated by the mayor of the municipality.
Currently, residents of townships in a county select their administrative chief and township representatives by popular vote.
Chen has instructed the Ministry of the Interior to ensure that Aborigines have the right to participate in political affairs after the upgrade, Executive Yuan spokesperson Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) said. She did not elaborate.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is aware that Beijing’s treatment of Hong Kong has weakened any possible sentiment for a “one country, two systems” arrangement for Taiwan, and has instructed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) politburo member Wang Huning (王滬寧) to develop new ways of defining cross-strait relations, Japanese news magazine Nikkei Asia reported on Thursday. A former professor of international politics at Fu Dan University, Wang is expected to develop a dialogue that could serve as the foundation for cross-strait unification, and Xi plans to use the framework to support a fourth term as president, Nikkei Asia quoted an anonymous source
LUCKY DATE: The man picked the 10th ‘Super Red Envelope’ in a lottery store in Taoyuan’s Jhongli because he broke up with his girlfriend on Jan. 10 A man who recently broke up with his girlfriend won a NT$1 million (US$32,929) prize in the “NT$20 million Super Red Envelope” lottery after picking a card based on the date of their breakup, Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The man, in his 20s, bought the 10th ticket at a lottery store in Taoyuan’s Jhongli District (中壢), because he broke up with his girlfriend on Jan. 10, the store owner told the lottery company. The “Super Red Envelope” lottery was a limited offering by the company during the Lunar New Year holiday, which ended yesterday. The cards, which cost NT$2,000 each, came with
TOURISM BOOST: The transportation system could help attract more visitors to the area, as the line is to connect multiple cultural sites, a city councilor said Residents in New Taipei City’s Ankeng District (安坑) said the local light rail system might have a positive influence, but raised questions about its practicality. The Ankeng light rail system, which is to commence operations after the Lunar New Year holiday, would cut travel time for commuters from Ankeng to downtown Taipei or New Taipei City by 15 to 20 minutes, the city government said. According to the initial plan, there would be one train every 15 minutes during peak time and additional interval trains would run between the densely populated Ankang Station (安康) and Shisizhang Station (十 四張). To encourage people to
CHAMPION TREES: The team used light detection and ranging imaging to locate the tree, and found that it measured a height of 84.1m and had a girth of 8.5m A team committed to finding the tallest trees in the nation yesterday said that an 84.1m tall Taiwania cryptomerioides tree had been named the tallest tree in Taiwan and East Asia. The Taiwan Champion Trees, a team consisting of researchers from the Council of Agriculture’s Taiwan Forestry Research Institute and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), in June last year used light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imaging to find the giant tree, numbered 55214, upstream of the Daan River (大安溪). A 20-member expedition team led by Rebecca Hsu (徐嘉君), an assistant researcher at the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute, set out to find the
RSS