As widely expected, the Cabinet also announced the upgrade to special municipality status simultaneously for Taipei County, Taichung City and Taichung County, and the integration of Kaohsiung County into Kaohsiung City as a single special municipality.

Government Information Office Minister Su Jun-pin said the decision was made at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Premier Liu Chao-shiuan.

Liu ratified the upgrading, endorsing the decisions made by an ad hoc panel organized by the Ministry of the Interior to review applications from local governments seeking upgraded municipal status.

The review panel approved on June 23 the applications submitted by Taipei County, Taichung City and Taichung County, and Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County, while rejecting those from Taoyuan County, Changhua County, and Yunlin County and Chiayi County.

The panel, however, failed to reach a unanimous decision on whether Tainan City and Tainan County should be merged and upgraded. It left the issue for a final decision by the Cabinet.

Premier Liu said the approval for the Tainan City/County case was based on the premise that Tainan has been an important historic and cultural landmark for Taiwan.

At present, only Taipei City and Kaohsiung City enjoy special municipality status.

The regulations stipulate that an administrative area with a population of over 1.25 million and with specific political, economic, cultural and urban developments can apply for special municipality status, which would entitle it to a bigger share of national resources.

There will be a combined population of 1.87 million for the Tainan City/County region, compared with 2.77 million in Kaohsiung City/County, 2.62 million in Taichung City/County, and 3.84 million for Taipei County. The population for Taipei City stands at 2.61 million.

Both Tainan City Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair and Tainan County Magistrate Su Huan-chih thanked the central government for the recognition of the unique historic and cultural role of Tainan.

When asked by reporters if he plans to run for mayor of the upgraded municipality, Hsu said he would refrain from eagerly contending for the new position.

Hsu also said it would be beyond his personal control if his party, the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, picks him as the candidate.

But Magistrate Su made it clear that he has no intention of running for mayor of the enlarged metropolis after serving out his second term as county chief.

Su said he would fully dedicate his administrative experiences for a smooth and successful integration of the city and county into a brand new administration.