New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) and Keelung Mayor Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) yesterday responded positively to the idea of combining Taipei, New Taipei City and Keelung into one administrative entity, which was broached by Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) earlier this week.
Ko on Wednesday said that the concept of the six special municipalities — Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung — was “absurd” and a failure in terms of national planning.
Ko yesterday amended his statement, saying that Keelung did not need to be administratively placed under Taipei, but should be made “more accessible.”
Photo: CNA
Asked for comment, Hou said that all globally competitive metropolises have a population of at least 10 million.
A “Greater Taipei” region — Taipei, New Taipei City and Keelung — could work, as they are adjacent to each other, he said.
“I am actually very optimistic about integration,” Hou said, adding that the three cities would be better off together than separate.
He said he believed that railway construction projects across the two municipalities and city should also include Taoyuan.
Solidarity is the only way to ensure improvement and greater development of the nation, Hou said, adding that only by working together could the Republic of China’s potential be seen once again.
However, Hou declined to comment on Ko viewing him as his “greatest threat to a presidential bid in 2024,” saying that both mayors should seek to create prosperity in their cities.
Lin said that the cities should remain separate administratively, but that regional logistics should be made more accessible.
Taipei has over the past two decades stagnated in urban development, not just because it lacks a plan, but, more importantly, because it lacks the land for development, he said.
Lin suggested that New Taipei City’s Tamsui (淡水), Shihmen (石門), Jinshan (金山), Wanli (萬里), Rueifang (瑞芳), Shuangsi (雙溪), Gongliao (貢寮) and Sijhih (汐止) districts, as well as Keelung, should be part of Taipei.
Taipei needs Keelung, as it could balance wealth in the region while allowing Taipei to expand from only the Taipei Basin to having its own coast and harbor, Lin said.
Lin added that the region could then be subdivided into two or three municipalities, but this would require discussion between the three cities, as well as a public consensus.
He said that he would be glad to invite Hou and Ko to Keelung to discuss the issue after the presidential and legislative elections on Jan. 11.
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
TAIWAN ADVOCATES: The resolution, which called for the recognition of Taiwan as a country and normalized relations, was supported by 22 Republican representatives Two US representatives on Thursday reintroduced a resolution calling for the US to end its “one China” policy, resume formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan and negotiate a bilateral Taiwan-US free trade agreement. Republican US representatives Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania’s 10th District were backed by 22 Republican members of the US House of Representatives. The two congressmen first introduced the resolution together in 2021. The resolution called on US President Donald Trump to “abandon the antiquated ‘one China’ policy in favor of a policy that recognizes the objective reality that Taiwan is an independent country, not
The US-Japan joint statement released on Friday not mentioning the “one China” policy might be a sign that US President Donald Trump intends to decouple US-China relations from Taiwan, a Taiwanese academic said. Following Trump’s meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday, the US and Japan issued a joint statement where they reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Trump has not personally brought up the “one China” policy in more than a year, National Taiwan University Department of Political Science Associate Professor Chen Shih-min (陳世民)