Changhua County representatives yesterday launched a petition to become a special municipality in the hopes of revitalizing the nation’s most populous county.
The issue has swept local politics since Hsinchu Mayor Lin Chih-chien (林智堅) last month suggested merging his city with Hsinchu County to become the nation’s seventh special municipality, inspiring subsequent proposals for mergers involving Chiayi, Keelung, Taipei, parts of New Taipei City and now Changhua County.
A special municipality, the nation’s highest-ranking administrative division, affords a greater degree of autonomy and more funding to approved regions with at least 1.25 million people and special development needs.
The arrangement has been criticized
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