The People First Party (PFP)-controlled Lienchiang County Government has decided to temporarily call off a plan to survey its residents on whether the county's name should be changed to Matsu, a county official said yesterday.
"The project will be restarted at a time [the county] deems appropriate, depending on the political environment," said Liu Chin-chiao (
She didn't elaborate on what she meant by "political environment," but media speculated that the PFP wanted to avoid complicating next year's presidential election by conducting the survey.
As there is a Lienchiang County in both China and Taiwan, the county government was considering changing the name of the Taiwan county to avoid shipments and mail being misdirected.
The government in April proposed surveying its residents on whether the county's name should be changed to Matsu, a name with which Taiwan's public is more familiar when referring to the 19 islets of Lienchiang County.
Taiwan's Lienchiang County is administratively under the Republic of China's Fukien Province. China's Lienchiang County is in the province which in China is spelled "Fujian."
The name-change proposal was one of the campaign pledges made two years ago by Lienchiang County Commissioner Chen Hsueh-sheng (
Rounds of exploratory meetings have been held countywide and a survey was to be conducted this month by a polling company hired by the county government.
Liu said that while some approved of the idea, a majority opposed to the proposal and questioned what immediate benefits would come of it.
Liu said some people opposed to the name-change idea believe that adding postal codes or adding "Taiwan" to addresses for mail bound for Lienchiang County could alleviate the confusion.
They were also worried that changing the name might appear as an indication of support for the pro-independence stance of the governing Democratic Progressive Party.
"The meetings in some townships got a bit fired up -- so much so that the divisiveness seemed to negatively affect the township's harmony and split the people into two camps," she said.
"To avoid divisiveness in the county and taking into consideration concerns over political and cross-strait sensitivity, the county commissioner earlier this week approved our suggestion to temporarily halt the project," Liu said.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,900) for advertisements that exceeded its approved business scope and ordered the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license would be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter supervision of Chinese e-commerce platforms and more stringent measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan as US President Donald Trump’s administration cracks down on origin laundering. The legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday met to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report on the matter. Democratic Progressive Party
RSS