TAIPEI (Taiwan News) -- Itinerant Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu is coming under fire now over the fact that under his watch, the city of Kaohsiung has lost 1,530 companies, while the five other major cities in Taiwan have seen an increase in companies.

The Facebook group Takao Good Day (高雄好過日) on Thursday mocked Han's election campaign promise of "10,000 companies gathering" (萬商雲集) as turning out to be "thousands of businesses going bankrupt" (千商倒閉). The Kaohsiung City Government Economic Development Bureau explained that it is following the central government's policy to dissolve companies that are no longer operating.

According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the number of companies operating in Kaohsiung has declined steadily from late last year to June of this year, resulting in a net decrease of 1,530 companies. Over that same period in the five other major cities in Taiwan, the number of companies has been growing.

During his mayoral election campaign last year, Han promised to "devote all efforts to the economy and bring in 10,000 businesses to Kaohsiung." On Thursday, Takao Good Day mocked his 10,000 company pledge as resulting in thousands of companies collapsing because the mayor has devoted himself so much to politics that hard-working citizens of the city have suffered miserably.

In April, Taoyuan City Councilor Wang Hao-yu (王浩宇) wrote on Facebook that 825 companies registered in Kaohsiung had gone out of business over the previous three months. At that time, the Kaohsiung City Government said, "This is because the Ministry of Economic Affairs announced at the end of last year that it had revoked the registration of more than 6,000 enterprises across the country, and the number of companies in the country has decreased," reported Liberty Times.

However, Takao Good Day pointed out that in the three months since, the Ministry of Economic Affairs database found that the number of businesses in Taiwan's five other major metropolises had increased, and only Kaohsiung saw a decrease. The Facebook page then wrote that this is a testament to the fact that Han is "only interested in elections and making a big fortune, and has no intentions of governing a city, which is a disaster for Kaohsiung."

In response to the Facebook post, Kaohsiung's Economic Development Bureau said that the number of registered companies in the city decreased from the end of last year to June of this year mainly because of an amendment to the Company Act (公司法), cooperation with money-laundering prevention, corporate governance transparency, and other policies. From 2018 to 2019, the Ministry of Economic Affairs transferred 9,691 orders to dissolve companies in Kaohsiung, compared to 2,556 in New Taipei City, 1,362 in Taoyuan, 1,240 in Taichung, and 346 in Tainan, reported Liberty Times.

According to the bureau, 4,119 corporate liquidation operations have been completed, so the number of companies dissolving has increased significantly. Although the total number of registered companies in Kaohsiung has decreased, according to Ministry of Finance statistics, total sales by profitable businesses in Kaohsiung from January to May reached NT$1.56 trillion, the same amount as last year.