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
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The US House of Representatives yesterday passed two Taiwan-related bills aimed at easing limits on bilateral engagement and supporting Taiwan's participation in international organizations. The first of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, would require the US Department of State to conduct periodic reviews of its guidelines for US engagement with Taiwan and Taiwanese officials. It would also require the department to report to US Congress every two years on the guidelines, and "identify opportunities to lift any remaining self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement and articulate a plan to do so." The legislation, which was introduced in February by
RSS