This paper aims at the issue whether the Northern Taiwan Metropolitan Integration NTMI) will evolve into a full-fledged and institutionalized metropolitan government or a framework of metropolitan governance with Taipei City at the core? The research questions include: how has the NTMI been evolving? What are the differences and similarities of the NTMI in contrast to the Western cases and experiences? What factors have been enabling and constraining the institutionalization of a Northern Metropolitan Government or the framework of a Northern Metropolitan Governance? What contributions could the research of the NTMI make to the theory of metropolitan government and governance? Finally, two research implications are discussed at the end of the paper.