His resignation as chairman of the Council of Agriculture (COA) may be the last-stand in politics for Peng Tso-kwei (
Telling reporters yesterday that he was "fed up" with politics, Peng leaves a legacy of relatively idealistic policy-making and a pragmatic approach rare at the highest levels of government.
His background -- both as an academic and a government official -- could well have influenced this approach.
FILE PHOTO
As a student at National Chunghsing University, Peng Tso-kwei was a determined and aggressive player on the sports field.
His 110-meter hurdle record remains unbeaten at Chunghsing University, and he once referred to taking up the post at the COA as an obstacle race, which requires extra strength and patience.
His venture into the political arena from the academic field was something unexpected.
Four days before the Cabinet reshuffle in 1997, Peng was given 40 minutes to make a decision that would change his life.
He decided to take a chance and become COA chairman, although the decision was later not supported by his own family.
Soon after taking up his new post, Peng established three major policy directions for the field of agriculture: production (
He said he believed that agricultural production had to be modernized to be effective, that agricultural trading liberalization was a must, and that farmers' benefits had to be well taken care of in the event of natural disasters.
Peng pushed for building resort-like farm villages, preserving endangered animals, and opposing the over-development of mountainous areas and logging.
He also suggested taking better care of older farmers, since they had contributed so much to the development of agriculture, and to respect younger farmers in order to encourage more young people to join the farming business, which has seen a rapid decline in recent years.
He also proposed adopting compensation measures to take care of farmers' losses if their rights were violated.
Peng had proposed that agricultural policy should pay attention not only to producers, but also to consumers. Peng had made it a goal to ensure that the government provided consumers with safe, quality, diverse, and hygienic agricultural products.
As for the management of farmland, Peng had proposed liberalizing the agricultural land market, to allow non-farmers to buy farm land to help the development of the industrial sector.
TECH EFFECT: While Chiayi County was the oldest region in the nation, Hsinchu county and city, home of the nation’s chip industry, were the youngest, the report showed Seven of the nation’s administrative regions, encompassing 57.2 percent of Taiwan’s townships and villages, became “super-aged societies” in June, the Ministry of the Interior said in its latest report. A region is considered super-aged if 20 percent of the population is aged 65 or older. The ministry report showed that Taiwan had 4,391,744 people aged 65 or older as of June, representing 18.76 percent of the total population and an increase of 1,024,425 people compared with August 2018. In June, the nation’s elderly dependency ratio was 27.3 senior citizens per 100 working-aged people, an increase of 7.39 people over August 2018, it said. That
‘UNITED FRONT’: The married couple allegedly produced talk show videos for platforms such as Facebook and YouTube to influence Taiwan’s politics A husband and wife affiliated with the China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) were indicted yesterday for allegedly receiving NT$74 million (US$2.32 million) from China to make radio and digital media propaganda to promote the Chinese government’s political agenda and influence the outcome of Taiwan’s elections. Chang Meng-chung (張孟崇) and his wife, Hung Wen-ting (洪文婷), allegedly received a total of NT$74 million from China between 2021 and last year to promote candidates favored by Beijing, contravening the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) and election laws, the Chiayi District Prosecutors’ Office said. The couple acted as Beijing’s propaganda mouthpiece by disparaging Hong Kong democracy activists
EARLY ARRIVALS: The first sets of HIMARS purchased from the US arrived ahead of their scheduled delivery, with troops already training on the platforms, a source said The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said it spotted 35 Chinese military aircraft, including fighters and bombers, flying to the south of Taiwan proper on the way to exercises in the Pacific, a second consecutive day it has reported such activities. The Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not respond to a request for comment on the missions, reported just days before tomorrow’s US presidential election. The US is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. Its arms sales to Taipei include a US$2 billion missile system announced last month. The MND said that from 9am yesterday,
A Control Yuan member yesterday said he would initiate an investigation into why the number of foreign nationals injured or killed in traffic incidents has nearly doubled in the past few years, and whether government agencies’ mechanisms were ineffective in ensuring road safety. Control Yuan member Yeh Ta-hua (葉大華) said in a news release that Taiwan has been described as a “living hell for pedestrians” and traffic safety has become an important national security issue. According to a National Audit Office report released last year, more than 780,000 foreign nationals were legally residing in Taiwan in 2019, which grew to more than
RSS