Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said yesterday that fulfilling President Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) campaign promise to fix the economy would take time, urging the public to have patience.
“The campaign slogan ‘Ma will turn things around right away’ (馬上好) put a lot of pressure on us. I think the slogan should have been ‘Ma will turn things around gradually’ (馬上漸漸好),” Liu said while addressing a meeting in Hsinchu County.
Liu and other Cabinet members met city and county heads and members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to discuss the economic situation.
Promising to gradually bolster the economy, Liu defended the Cabinet’s decision to raise prices of gas, utilities and commodities, saying that freezing prices would only have exacerbated the situation.
Liu said the Cabinet’s economic stimulus package, with a budget of NT$130.1 billion (US$4.28 billion), along with a supplementary budget, could boost economic growth by 0.45 percentage points and ease the impact of rising commodity and fuel prices.
Liu said the Cabinet would improve communication with local governments.
Local government heads urged Ma and his Cabinet to visit other cities and counties more often to gain a better understanding of the economic needs of each region. The Cabinet should contact local governments to arrange times for inspection tours, they said.
In response to local government concerns that state-controlled Taiwan Fertilizer Co (台灣肥料) is hoarding fertilizers and that fertilizers were too costly for farmers, Liu said the government would address the situation.
“We will catch anyone who is hoarding fertilizer and ask the company to reorganize its structure,” he said.
Last month, the Cabinet lifted a three-year freeze on fertilizer prices, allowing suppliers to factor in the rising costs of raw materials.
Farmers in the central and southern part of the country protested the change and said the move encouraged hoarding, leading to a shortage of fertilizer.
Also last month, the government raised gas prices by NT$6.5 per liter and premium grade diesel by NT$7.2 per liter in response to soaring oil prices. The prices will rise again next month.
Also See: Tsai blames policies for economic woes
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
RSS