A majority of 54.9 percent of Keelung residents want the city to be upgraded to a special municipality, Keelung Mayor George Hsieh (謝國樑) said yesterday, citing a survey conducted by the Keelung City Government.
The poll showed that 26.5 percent of respondents support a merger of Keelung, Taipei and New Taipei City.
Lin revealed the survey results as he called for a meeting with former Keelung mayor and Minister of the Interior Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) to discuss a possible upgrade, saying the central government should respect the will of the majority of the city’s residents.
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Photo: Lu Hsien-hsiu, Taipei Times
According to the poll, 30.3 percent of respondents somewhat approved of the proposal to upgrade the city to a special municipality and 24.6 percent highly approved of it, while 13.1 percent of residents somewhat disapproved of the proposal and 6.1 percent highly disapproved of it, Hsieh said.
Support for joining Keelung, Taipei and New Taipei City was highest among high-school or vocational middle school graduates at 30.3 percent, he cited the poll as saying.
Meanwhile, support for combining Keelung, New Taipei City’s Sijhih District (汐止) and Taipei was highest among people in their 50s with 31.3 percent, as well as those with vocational high school diplomas at 32.6 percent, Hsieh said.
Merging Keelung and the seven nearest districts of New Taipei City had the highest support among people in their 20s at 22 percent, as well as those with a college degree at 20.8 percent, he said.
A combination of Keelung and New Taipei City enjoyed the strongest support among people in their 40s at 16.8 percent, he added.
Keelung is the only administrative division in northern Taiwan that remains an autonomous city instead of a special municipality or county, such as Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, he said.
This means Keelung residents do not have access to resources and legal status equivalent to their neighbors, he said.
The poll also showed that 54.5 percent of respondents want the municipal government to improve roads and traffic, 31.7 percent believe the city should work on jobs and 13.9 percent demand action on long-term care, Hsieh said.
The survey was conducted from Jan. 13 to 15 among Keelung residents aged 20 or older via computer-assisted landline calls.
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