SPEAKING
FREELY Is
it time to move Taiwan's capital? By Winston Wong
Speaking Freely
is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest
writers to have their say. Please
click hereif you are interested in
contributing.
TAIPEI - Taiwan is
considering moving the site of its national
government from Taipei, Taiwan's largest and
northernmost city and which has served as the
capital since 1886, to a southern city.
Following his re-election in January,
President Ma Ying-jeou is set to name an elite
national panel, chaired by a member of his new
cabinet, to study the idea.
To some, the
very idea of moving a nation's capital from one
city to another seems little far-fetched. But it
isn't. Many countries
have moved their capitals.
Several have done so in recent decades. Others,
such as Japan, are considering such a move.
The United States, for instance, moved its
original capital from Philadelphia, in the North,
to Washington DC, in the south. But that was some
220 years ago when the United States was sparsely
populated and a new country. So moving the
national government to a secure location set aside
specifically for that purpose, following an attack
on the US Congress by mutinous soldiers, was a
good idea.
A law was passed in 1790
authorizing the new capital, and a decade later,
in 1800, America's legislature held its first
session in the new "federal city", which retains
its general characteristics to this day.
More recently, in 1960, Brazil - the
largest country in South America, with a
population of approximately 200 million - moved
its capital. Brazil didn't just pack up its
national government and move it from the original
capital city, Rio de Janeiro, to another location.
Instead, it hired the world-famous architect Oscar
Niemeyer to design an entirely new city, Brasilia,
in the center of the country. Prior to the move,
the area was sparsely populated and resembled a
desert, with little water and vegetation. Today,
it is a thriving, modern showplace with a
population exceeding 2.5 million.
Other
countries have moved their capitals. Australia
relocated its capital in 1927, to Canberra,
another planned city. In 1999, following
reunification, Germany moved its seat of
government from Bonn to Berlin. And less than two
years ago, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, president of
Indonesia, announced that he is seriously
considering moving the capital from Jakarta. He
gave two reasons: the fact that Jakarta, a city of
nearly 9.6 million, is overcrowded, gridlocked,
polluted and earthquake-prone, and the need to
bring economic development to other parts of the
country.
The list goes on: Belize, the
Ivory Coast, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria and
Tanzania all have moved their capitals in the past
several decades.
The reasons leaders of
these countries gave for moving their capitals
were diverse: geography, population density,
gridlock, economic development, pollution,
security. These are largely the same reasons
Taiwanese leaders should give serious
consideration to moving its capital.
As
both the nation's capital and the center of
Taiwan's economic life, New Taipei City and Taipei
City are home to 30% of Taiwan's total population,
or nearly 6.5 million people. With this
concentration of population comes traffic
congestion, soaring real estate prices, rising
crime, and environmental pollution and
degradation.
Moving the capital to the
south not only would help mitigate some of these
problems, but it would bring economic benefits to
the residents of the new capital city and its
surroundings, rectifying the long-standing
imbalance between development of Taiwan's north
and south. It would also help spread political
power - now concentrated in the north, to the
detriment of the south.
There are
practical reasons as well. Taipei is close to
several volcanoes, vulnerable to earthquakes, and
prone to flooding, due to the increased summer
rains that the earth's changing climate have
brought. There also are three nuclear power plants
located near Taipei, creating additional risk.
Should a catastrophic natural disaster
occur in Taipei, like the devastating earthquake
and tsunami that struck Japan last year, Taiwan's
government and economy could grind to a halt. Just
as the United States chose a safer location for
its government, perhaps Taiwan should do so as
well.
A new capital could be a showplace
blend of modern architecture and traditional
culture, providing new economic opportunities to
residents of Southern Taiwan and relieving the
overcrowding that threatens the quality of life in
Taipei.
The idea of moving Taiwan's seat
of government from Taipei to the South deserves
serious consideration. In this author's opinion, a
new capital would be a win-win situation for all
of Taiwan. Moving the capital is not only doable,
but an imperative.
Winston Wong,
a Taiwanese physicist, entrepreneur and
philanthropist, is the founder of the Grace THW
Group and, most recently, Taiwan YAM TV, a new,
independent cable television network.
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say. Please
click hereif you are interested in
contributing.
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