The Taiwan Competitiveness Forum rated the nation’s five main cities in terms of economic performance and found that Greater Taichung excelled in financial soundness and economic growth.
The group evaluated Taipei, New Taipei City, Greater Taichung, Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung on their “economic strength” and concluded that Taichung has done an outstanding job in promoting GDP growth, employment growth and attracting immigrants, as well as having the smallest debt per capita and the lowest unemployment rate.
The group said it endorsed Greater Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強) in the year-end mayoral election.
Lee Wo-chiang (李沃牆), a professor of banking and finance at Tamkang University, compared the five cities in terms of their economic and financial development.
“Taichung’s GDP growth [in 2011] was 45.77 percent, which was the highest among the five cities. It also had the highest employment growth rate [during the period 2009 to last year] at 7.8 percent,” Lee said.
According to Lee’s chart, the GDP growth rates in Taipei, New Taipei City, Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung were 15.25 percent, 9.88 percent, 35.24 percent and 29.32 percent respectively, while the employment growth rates were 6.4 percent, 7.7 percent, 6.2 percent and 5.1 percent respectively.
“Taichung had the lowest unemployment rate last year with 4.1 percent and the least debt per capita at NT$20,000, which is in stark contrast to Kaohsiung, which owed NT$90,000 per person,” he added.
Unemployment in the other four cities was 4.2 percent in each case, Lee said.
Lin Chieng-fu (林建甫), an economics professor at National Taiwan University and the forum’s convener, praised the development he said he has seen in Taichung.
Lin said that the standard the city looked to is no longer Taipei and Kaohsiung, but Hong Kong and Singapore.
“Hu has been in office for 13 years and some people are a bit tired of him and have become inured to his humor and global vision. These are factors that have lowered his approval rating and we want to defend him against the unjust bias,” Lin said.
Nieh Chien-chung (聶建中), a professor of banking and finance at Tamkang University, said that a change of leader might return the city to a “countryside city.”
“It would be a pity to change leader now as a lot of plans would be called off if a new government takes over,” said Hsu Chen-ming (許振明), an economics professor at National Taiwan University.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to