The legislature yesterday passed an amendment to the Local Government Act (地方制度法) that will allow cities and counties to integrate into special municipalities. The amendment paves the way for the elevation of the status of a merged Taichung City and Taichung County.
The amendment states that the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) or a city or county may initiate a merger plan and that plan needs the approval of the Executive Yuan.
“Cities and counties interested in a merger are welcome to file their application by May 31 after obtaining permission for a merger plan from their city or county council,” Minister of the Interior Liao Liou-yi (廖了以) told a press conference yesterday.
PHOTO: CNA
Liao said his ministry would not take the initiative to suggest any mergers and the amendment “was not tailor-made for the merger of Taichung City and Taichung County.”
“All applications will be treated equally without discrimination. The Executive Yuan will consider each application in a fair, impartial and public way,” Liao said.
The amendment, however, was still widely viewed as a move to deliver on President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) campaign promise to merge Taichung City and Taichung County into a municipality, part of his plan to redraw administrative districts to create three metropolitan areas and 15 counties.
Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕), a Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator from Taichung City, treated lawmakers to candy after the bill was passed, while her colleague Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) displayed an artificial string of firecrackers while expressing thanks for the passage of the bill.
Integration of cities and counties will enable them to meet one of the requirements — a population of more than 1.25 million — needed to upgrade their status to a special municipality, which will result in a substantial increase in the budget allocated by the central government.
The amendment was also supported by the Democratic Progressive Party, but the party called on the Executive Yuan to be impartial in considering the subject.
“We are happy to see upgraded status for a merged Taichung City and Taichung County, but we hope the KMT will support mergers for Tainan City and Tainan County, and Kaohsiung City and Kaohisung County and elevate both of them to special municipalities as well,” DPP Legislator William Lai (賴清德) said.
If the plan to merge Taichung City and Taichung County is approved by the Executive Yuan, the terms of the Taichung City mayor and Taichung County commissioner, as well as village and township chiefs, will be extended by one year to the end of next year, Liao said.
DPP Legislator Chen Ying (陳瑩) of the Puyuma Aboriginal tribe said she wasn’t happy about the amendment.
“The new version of the law did not mention anything about protecting Aboriginal rights in mountain Aboriginal townships after counties merge with cities to become directly administrated cities,” she said.
The current Local Government Act stipulates that mountain Aboriginal township heads must be Aborigines. For example, the mayor of Taichung County’s Heping Township (和平) — an Atayal township — must be an Aborigine.
However, once Taichung County merges with Taichung City to become a new expanded Taichung City, Heping Township would become Heping District within the city and the head of Heping District would be appointed by the mayor.
“Although they did pass a resolution suggesting that the mayor should appoint an Aborigine to the post of an Aboriginal district head, the resolution is not legally binding,” she said.
In related news, Liao said the government would propose an amendment to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) and a bill regarding the country’s administration division in two months to make necessary adjustments to budget allocations and administrative demarcations following the passage of the amendment.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY LOA IOK-SIN
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck off Yilan at 11:05pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter was located at sea, about 32.3km east of Yilan County Hall, at a depth of 72.8km, CWA data showed There were no immediate reports of damage. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Yilan County area on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. It measured 4 in other parts of eastern, northern and central Taiwan as well as Tainan, and 3 in Kaohsiung and Pingtung County, and 2 in Lienchiang and Penghu counties and 1
A car bomb killed a senior Russian general in southern Moscow yesterday morning, the latest high-profile army figure to be blown up in a blast that came just hours after Russian and Ukrainian delegates held separate talks in Miami on a plan to end the war. Kyiv has not commented on the incident, but Russian investigators said they were probing whether the blast was “linked” to “Ukrainian special forces.” The attack was similar to other assassinations of generals and pro-war figures that have either been claimed, or are widely believed to have been orchestrated, by Ukraine. Russian Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, 56, head
FOREIGN INTERFERENCE: Beijing would likely intensify public opinion warfare in next year’s local elections to prevent Lai from getting re-elected, the ‘Yomiuri Shimbun’ said Internal documents from a Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company indicated that China has been using the technology to intervene in foreign elections, including propaganda targeting Taiwan’s local elections next year and presidential elections in 2028, a Japanese newspaper reported yesterday. The Institute of National Security of Vanderbilt University obtained nearly 400 pages of documents from GoLaxy, a company with ties to the Chinese government, and found evidence that it had apparently deployed sophisticated, AI-driven propaganda campaigns in Hong Kong and Taiwan to shape public opinion, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported. GoLaxy provides insights, situation analysis and public opinion-shaping technology by conducting network surveillance
‘POLITICAL GAME’: DPP lawmakers said the motion would not meet the legislative threshold needed, and accused the KMT and the TPP of trivializing the Constitution The Legislative Yuan yesterday approved a motion to initiate impeachment proceedings against President William Lai (賴清德), saying he had undermined Taiwan’s constitutional order and democracy. The motion was approved 61-50 by lawmakers from the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who together hold a legislative majority. Under the motion, a roll call vote for impeachment would be held on May 19 next year, after various hearings are held and Lai is given the chance to defend himself. The move came after Lai on Monday last week did not promulgate an amendment passed by the legislature that
RSS