The Executive Yuan yesterday said it has no stance on merging Hsinchu city and county into one municipality, after Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅) the day before proposed creating “Greater Hsinchu.”
During an interview on Monday with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the sister paper of the Taipei Times), Lin floated the idea of merging the two areas, sparking spirited discussion among politicians and commentators.
Hsinchu County Commissioner Yang Wen-ke (楊文科) later proposed that the new “Greater Hsinchu” become the nation’s seventh special municipality, an idea for which Lin yesterday voiced support.
Photo courtesy of the Hsinchu County Government
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Wei-chou (林為洲) took the proposal a step further, suggesting that Miaoli County be included to boost the area’s population to 1.5 million, past the 1.25 million threshold for forming a special municipality.
Without Miaoli County, creating “Greater Hsinchu” would involve revising the Local Government Act (地方制度法).
Statistics from the end of last month show that Hsinchu County has a population of 573,858, while Hsinchu City has 452,781 people for a total of 1.03 million.
Even if it were not upgraded, the plan would still require the passage of the long-stalled administrative zoning bill, which most recently was submitted to the legislature by the Executive Yuan in 2018 in a bid to improve resource disparities between urban and rural areas.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 2018 had also raised the idea of merging all administrative areas into seven special municipalities, but the proposal stalled after the Cabinet reshuffle following the nine-in-one elections later that year.
In response to media queries, an Executive Yuan official yesterday said that the Cabinet has not yet formally discussed the proposal.
Whether achieved through zoning changes or as a special municipality, it would require changes to the law subject to revision by the Ministry of the Interior, the official said on condition of anonymity.
As everyone at the moment seems to have a different opinion, the official said that any action would first have to wait until a consensus is achieved.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) reportedly met with Lin Chih-chien yesterday to discuss the proposal, although details of their discussion are not yet available.
Responding to accusations that Lin Chih-chien raised the proposal to gain an advantage in next year’s local elections, a senior DPP official said that an issue should be discussed if it would benefit the people, regardless of when elections are to be held.
The important issue is whether there is public consensus, the party official said, adding that the laws could be amended soon if the parties could cooperate.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
President William Lai (賴清德) should protect Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), and stop supporting domestic strife and discord, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrote on Facebook yesterday. US President Donald Trump and TSMC on Monday jointly announced that the company would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US. The TSMC plans have promoted concern in Taiwan that it would effectively lead to the chipmaking giant becoming Americanized. The Lai administration lacks tangible policies to address concerns that Taiwan might follow in Ukraine’s footsteps, Ma wrote. Instead, it seems to think it could
A man in Tainan has been cleared on charges of public insult after giving the middle finger during a road rage incident, as judges deemed the gesture was made “briefly to express negative feelings.” In last week’s ruling at the High Court’s Tainan branch, judges acquitted a driver, surnamed Cheng (程), for an incident along Tainan’s Nanmen Road in September 2023, when Cheng had spotted a place to park his car in an adjacent lane. Cheng slowed down his vehicle to go into reverse, to back into the parking spot, but the car behind followed too closely, as its driver thought Cheng
DEFENSE: The purpose of the exercises is to identify strategies for the government to control risks during tensions, prevent war and bolster national resilience A tabletop exercise series has begun simulating possible scenarios if the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) launched a war against Taiwan in the guise of a military exercise. The exercise series is jointly organized by National Chengchi University’s Institute of International Relations, Taiwan Center for Security Studies and Asia-Pacific Policy Research Association. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Yeong-kang (陳永康), former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) director William Stanton and Taiwan Center for Security Studies director Liu Fu-kuo (劉復國) attended the event in Taipei yesterday. Scenarios that would be simulated include changing political circumstances in the US during US President Donald Trump’s tenure
RSS