Thursday, November 30, 2006

PARTISAN POLITICS SHOULD NOT HINDER REGIONAL INTEGRATION: OFFICIALS

Taipei, Nov. 28 (CNA) Partisan politics should not hinder the development of regional and inter-city integration, two senior executive officials said Tuesday in Taipei.

Not until the 3-in-1 local elections last year, when the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) swept almost every mayoral and magistrate election in northern Taiwan, was northern Taiwan regional integration possible, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou claimed in a forum focused on the integration of northern Taiwan cities.

Ma said the plan to bring Taipei City and Taipei County into joint collaboration was stalemated prior to 2005, as Taipei County was governed by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), while Taipei City was under the KMT.

Local development should be a non-partisan effort, Taoyuan Magistrate Eric Chu said.

Chu urged the central government to take note of the global trend of decentralization, which he claimed was the key factor behind China's rapid economic development.

Local governments will benefit a lot, Chu said, if the central government reviews the effectiveness and fairness of the distribution regulations for centrally allotted tax revenues.

Taipei City receives a large proportion of tax revenues, which is unfair to most local governments, Chu added.