Noting that it was not a campaign to win voters, Siew said that President Ma Ying-jeou's administration will definitely push for the expansion of the Taipei MRT system via the city's northeastern suburbs of Nangang and Xizhi toward Keelung City located northeast of Taipei City.

"An expanded MRT system is necessary for the integration of Taipei City, Taipei County and Keelung City in the future," Siew said when he addressed the opening of the annual conference on regional development of northern Taiwan.

Quoting Kenichi Ohmae, Japanese management guru and author of two famous books M-shape Society and The Borderless World, Siew said one of the facts of globalization is that not only nations compete against nations, cities compete against cities too. The integration of metropolises is also a world trend, he said.

Siew said the Committee of Northern Taiwan Regional Development was established in 2004 under the leadership of then Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou aimed at pushing for regional development.

He said although the eight northern Taiwan cities and counties -- Taipei City, Taipei County, Keelung City, Yilan County, Taoyuan County, Hsinchu City, Hsinchu County and Miaoli County -- constitute only one-fourth of Taiwan's area, the total number of residents in the region made up about half of the country's population and they contribute 65 percent of the nation's tax revenues.

"The development of northern Taiwan has led the development of central, eastern and southern Taiwan -- in a mode of globalization, " Siew said.

He said economic development relies on economies of scale, but economic development could be inefficient if its scale is too big.

"An economy of the right size is the most desirable way of development and today's super powers, including the United States, Japan and China have all strived toward that direction," he noted.

"President Ma's plan to push for merger and upgrading of cities and counties around Taiwan is in line with that world trend, " Siew said.

Mayors and county chiefs of the eight northern cities and counties signed a joint statement upon the conclusion of the conference, hoping to further facilitate regional development through cooperation between the central and local governments.

(By Chen Ching-ping and Deborah Kuo)