Taiwan needs a pair of wings to lift its economy and emerge from its current economic stagnation, and improvements to local economies and value-added innovation would serve as those wings, former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday.
The development of local economies with a range of characteristics and job creation potential as well as industrial competitiveness coming from value-added innovation and entrepreneurship are crucial for the creation of a new driving force for the economy, Tsai wrote on her Facebook page.
“Neither is dispensable for Taiwan to develop its economy in the face of global financial crisis and future challenges,” Tsai wrote.
Photo: Yang Yi-min, Taipei Times
Agriculture is the key to developing local economies, Tsai said.
The former DPP presidential candidate called for a comprehensive review of the fallow land agricultural policy and for the government to assume a managerial role in developing those lands, without taking property rights away from farmers.
Taiwan was forced to implement fallow agricultural policies after its accession to the WTO in 2002, making the Council of Agriculture “more of a subsidy distributing agency than a policy formulating agency,” she said.
The council’s role should be changed and the ministry should lease fallow land at higher prices than past subsidies so the areas can be utilized to increase agricultural production.
The other wing would be “innovation, entrepreneurship and high value-added products,” which Stan Shih (施振榮), former chairman of the computer manufacturer Acer, also advocated, she said.
Tsai encouraged young people to establish their own businesses with courage and confidence, the same way their grandparents and parents did in the post-World War II era, which later became known as “Taiwan’s economic miracle.”
“It’s time for young people in Taiwan to create their own businesses using innovative ideas. The passion of these young entrepreneurs would get Taiwan’s economy moving again,” she said.
Asked on the sidelines of a folk ceremony in Yilan County yesterday about the current socio-political atmosphere and whether the Cabinet should be replaced, Tsai told reporters that people seem to be experiencing a collective fear caused by financial hardship.
She did not say whether there should be a Cabinet reshuffle, but said “Taiwanese are very aware of how well the administration has performed.”
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,