Taipei (The China Post/ANN) - Taipei is the most competitive place among all major cities and counties, according to a study published by a local magazine yesterday.
Taipei came in first in each of the categories - economy, employment, education, environmental protection, public safety, medical care and local finances - evaluated in the study by Global View Magazine.
In terms of overall competitiveness, Taipei is therefore number one, followed by Hsinchu City, Chiayi City and New Taipei.
Taipei, with more than six decades of privileged development heavily funded by the central government, will remain unchallenged in the foreseeable future, Global View commented.
Taipei and New Taipei are two of the country's five Cabinet-level special municipalities, but the other three - Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung - failed to receive good ratings in the study though they have more resources than most other local governments.
Taichung ranks seventh, Tainan 12th and Kaohsiung 15th of all 19 local governments graded in the study.
The three special municipalities grew to the present size by merging neighboring counties in December 2010. But Global View said the mergers crippled their competitiveness.
But all five special municipalities are in the top-10 in terms of economic competitiveness.
At the bottom is the agricultural Pingtung County. But another agricultural county, Taitung, made it to the top-10, occupying the eighth place mainly because of its low crime rate, the magazine said.
