President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday promised to unveil more measures to deal with the financial crisis after the Lunar New Year holiday, adding that he expected the nation’s economy to improve this year.
“Taiwan cannot escape the global financial crisis because we depend largely on exports. However, the government will try to turn things around and improve the economy this year,” Ma said during a visit to Taichung City.
Ma said the government would put special emphasis on presenting long-term economic measures, adding that it would also assess whether to issue more consumer vouchers this year.
About 92 percent of the 23.19 million people eligible received the NT$3,600 vouchers on Jan. 18. The government spent NT$85.7 billion (US$2.55 billion) on the voucher program in a bid to rekindle the sagging economy.
Ma said the government would work to provide assistance to local governments in pushing for urban renewal projects and seek to boost local business opportunities, adding that new measures should be announced soon, as Cabinet members spent the Lunar New Year holiday mapping out solutions aimed at curbing the nation’s soaring unemployment rate.
The nation’s unemployment rate rose to 5.03 percent in December, meaning that more than 549,000 people were out of work — the highest level since October 2003. It also marked the first time in five years that the monthly unemployment rate topped 5 percent, a recent report released by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics showed.
Accompanied by Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強), Ma yesterday visited major temples in the city and handed out red envelopes as the Lunar New Year holiday came to an end.
Ma praised the Taichung City Government for its drive to encourage residents to use their vouchers by holding a lucky draw event, in which the No. 1 prize was a house.
He later paid a closed-door visit to senior presidential adviser Lin Yang-kang (林洋港) and attended the opening ceremony of Kaohsiung City’s Lantern Festival last night. Ma joined Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) to light up the main lantern at the Kaohsiung Honorary Pier.
The festival runs until Feb. 15.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
RSS