Abstract
Taiwan will have five special municipalities at the beginning of 2011. Aide from the existing special municipality of Taipei, New North City will be created by upgrading the existing county of Taipei. The county of Kaohsiung will be annexed by the existing special municipality of Kaohsiung. The city and county of Taichung will be merged as the special municipality of Greater Taichung. Another new special municipality will be created for Tainan by the merger the existing city and county of Tainan. The five special municipalities have a combined population of 13.7 million, around 60 percent of the total populace.
This study evaluates the demarcation of 25 local administrative districts prior to the emergence of the five special municipalities. It tries to detect the trend of future develop-ment in the demarcation of administrative districts.
I. Preface
There will emerge five special municipalities in Taiwan at the start of 2011. Aside from the existing special municipality of Taipei, New North City will be created by upgrading the existing county of Taipei, while the special municipality of Kaohsiung will be expanded by annexing the county of Kaohsiung. Two new special municipalities will be created by the mer-ger of the cities and counties of Taichung and Tainan.
They will be known as the special municipalities of Greater Taichung and Tainan. The five special munici-palities will have a combined population 13.7 million people, around 60 percent of the total populace.
Currently in the Republic of China, there are alto-gether 25 administrative districts. Two of them are the special municipalities of Taipei and Kaohsiung. There are five cities (Keelung, Hsinchu, Taichung, Chiayi, Tainan) and 17 counties, including the offshore island counties of Penghu, Kinmen, and Lienchiang.
This study evaluates the demarcation of the 25 administrative districts and attempts to detect the trend of future development in the demarcation of adminis-trative districts in Taiwan.
II. Predicaments of 25 Administrative Dis-tricts
There were 21 administrative districts in the prov-ince of Taiwan prior to 1950. They included the five cities of Taipei, Keelung, Taichung, Tainan and Kaoh-siung and the 16 counties of Taipei, Yilan, Taoyuan, Hsinchu, Miaoli, Taichung, Changhua, Nantou, Yunlin, Chiayi, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Pingtung, Taitung, Hualian, and Penghu.
In 1967, the city of Taipei annexed the townships of Jingmei, Muzha, Neihu, Nangang, Shihlin and Bei-tou to form the special municipality of Taipei. The city of Kaohsiung City was reformed as the second special municipality in 1979. In 1982, two new cities of Hsin-chu and Chiayi were created. At present, Taiwan has altogether 25 administrative districts. They confront
with the following disadvantages:
1. Narrow Administrative Districts
Taiwan is 36,000 square kilometers in area. Yet it is demarcated into 25 administrative districts where exist as many first-degree local self-governing bodies and 319 second-degree local self-governing bodies. The explosion of local self-governing bodies has made it difficult for the central government to enforce major public works construction projects to improve Taiwan’s economic infrastructure. The difficulty lies in the fact that these local self-governing bodies often have “veto power” over the infrastructure construction. Time is wasted for consultation and negotiation.
2. Improper Demarcation
Many administrative districts have been demar-cated without due consideration. The special munici-pality of Taipei is surrounded by the county of Taipei.
The city of Taichung is besieged by the county of Tai-chung. The city of Chiayi is an island within the county of Chiayi. As a matter of fact, these cities were created by separating the core zones or most prosperous dis-tricts from the much larger counties bearing the same names. It is unfair for the counties and handicaps the management of both the counties and the cities. For instance, citizens of Xizhi City in Taipei County have to go across over the whole special municipality of Taipei in order to get to their country government to get offi-cial business done.
3. Lack of Strategic Thinking in Demarcation
In an era of global competition, every country has to promote its economic development through strategic planning for the utilization of land space. The western coast of Taiwan, which generates the driving force for economic development, is inadequately demarcated into too many administrative districts. Each local self-governing body has its own way of developing the local economy. Coordination is not centralized and there is no complete blueprint for economy develop-ment. No industries can form a stable, competitive
Demarcation of Administrative Districts in Taiwan 129
network to cope with the ongoing economic globaliza-tion. There should be a centralized authority above lo-cal self-governing bodies that carries out strategic plan-ning for the use of land space.
4. Ecological Conservation
There are eight national parks in Taiwan, but much more effort is needed for ecological conservation. The disastrous earthquake of 1999 and the devastating flood disaster of 2009 testified to the lack of conservation. A special self-governing body has to be organized to see to it that land is not overly developed to harm the natu-ral environment of Taiwan.
5. Autonomous Districts for Indigenous Peoples
There are 14 indigenous tribes with a combined population of half a million in Taiwan. If they all live together in an area, they outnumber the population of the county of Yilan or the city of Hsinchu. Autonomous districts have to be demarcated for indigenous peoples.
III. Recommendation
It is recommended:1. That the 22 administrative districts demarcated now be further reduced 18 by merging the city of Keelung with New North City, the city and county of Hsinchu and the city and county of Chiayi.
2. That the central government call a regional economic development conference after the administrative dis-tricts are reduced to 18 to map out a comprehensive long-range development program for the benefit of all 28 administrative districts.
3. That autonomous districts be demarcated for indi-genous peoples to help preserve their traditional cul-tures.
4. That a special conservation area be demarcated for the protection of Taiwan’s natural environment and a self-governing body organized under direct control of the Executive Yuan to see to it that no land
devel-opment is done within the area.