New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫), who is the only candidate running for the chairmanship of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), on Sunday pledged to make an effort to narrow the wealth gap, saying that to achieve the goal, taxes on wealthy people must be raised and those on the working class should be lowered.
One important thing is “allowing wealthy people and capitalists to be able to earn reasonable profits and letting them share the money they have made with the general public,” Chu said at a presentation of political platforms in New Taipei City.
It was the first of 11 presentations planned by the KMT for its chairman election, which is slated for Jan. 17. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) resigned from the post on Dec. 3 in response to the losses the party suffered in the Nov. 29 local elections.
The presentations are to be held in cities and counties around the nation.
Chu is the only KMT candidate to have been elected in a mayoral election in one of the six special municipal cities — Taipei, New Taipei City, Greater Taoyuan, Greater Taichung, Greater Tainan and Greater Kaohsiung.
On Sunday, Chu proposed a revision to the Company Act (公司法) that would see the profits of a company first spent on wage hikes for employees. He also said that “it is not right” that stock dividends enjoyed by the wealthy have reduced taxes or are exempt.
Meanwhile, Chu reiterated his pledge to promote reform of the Constitution, including switching to a parliamentary system, in which power and responsibility would go hand in hand.
Under the current system, power is shared by a popularly elected president and his appointed premier. However, the system has long been criticized as incommensurate, since power holders are not held responsible for their performance.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to