A Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration would commit to establishing a sound system for long-term care in four years and would allocate public funding of at least NT$40 billion (US$1.32 billion) in four years if elected in January, DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday.
In a symposium with representatives from various social care groups, Tsai said she recognized the importance of a comprehensive long-term care system that would benefit the young, the old and the disabled as the nation rapidly ages.
A 10-year plan with a budget of NT$81.7 billion to establish a long-term care system, which was proposed by the then-DPP administration in 2007, was abandoned after President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office in May 2008, and Ma has not paid sufficient attention to the issue, Tsai said.
That is why Taiwan has to speed up the establishment of such a system and why the central government should play an active role, Tsai said, adding that if elected, she would set up a special task force to tackle the issue.
A centralized task force reporting directly to the president would find unused public buildings to use as sites for social care facilities, collaborate with non-profit organizations and coordinate different government agencies.
The presidential hopeful agreed with the representatives, who offered their suggestions and observation on long-term care, saying: “Human resources and money are always the most important issues when it comes to the social care system.”
Other than the NT$40 billion budget she proposed, the government should train more local caretakers, rather than hiring more foreign caretakers, so that more job opportunities could be created, Tsai said.
Most of the representatives who spoke at the 60-minute symposium were not happy with the current administration, with Foundation for the Welfare of the Elderly secretary-general Wu Yu-chin (吳玉琴) saying the Executive Yuan had offered “more interference than assistance.”
For example, Wu said, the Cabinet refused to include funding for nonprofits in its annual budgets and only agreed to fund them through the second reserve fund — a special budget.
Tsai also pledged to review next year’s national budget if she won the presidential election on Jan. 14 and to make necessary adjustments, because “the DPP’s priorities in governance are different from those of the KMT [Chinese Nationalist Party].”
“At the end of the day, the government’s determination is crucial. We have to get this done, and we will get it done,” Tsai said.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,
RSS