An academic said the next president would face four major economic difficulties: “adjustments to the industrial structure”; “regional economic integration”; “development of domestic demand”; and “real-wage increases,” while another academic said there will also be a four-month window between the presidential and legislative elections on Jan. 16 and May 20, when the new government is to be installed, so the new legislature must strictly monitor President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration in case it does something to damage the economy.
Many indicators have shown poor economic performance since the second quarter last year, National Central University professor of economics Chiou Jiunn-rong (邱俊榮) said, adding that the economy is in bad shape, so president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) will certainly face major challenges after taking office.
“The first challenge is adjustments to the industrial structure,” he said. “Taiwan’s industrial structure used to be too focused on the electronics industry and lacked diversity, so once a global recession occurred, it greatly affected the nation’s economy.”
By comparison, South Korea’s industrial structure is more diverse, Chiou said, adding that Tsai’s government must develop and foster emerging industries to diversify the economy.
As that would involve the reallocation of resources, the new government must undertake comprehensive planning and communication, he said.
Regarding regional economic integration, Chiou said that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement might be beneficial for some industries, but other industries could be negatively affected, so making appropriate arrangements to enter the TPP would be a big challenge.
The development of domestic demand will be the third challenge, because the government has always emphasized developing the export-oriented manufacturing industry to more effectively stimulate GDP growth, but has neglected the development of domestic demand, especially refined agriculture and long-term care — industries that could greatly boost domestic consumption, Chiou said.
The fourth challenge is how to see real wages increase, because over the past eight years of the Ma administration, real wages have dropped to the same level as 15 years ago, while the low average wage has already aroused discontent among the people, Chiou said, adding that popular discontent has affected the public’s willingness to consume, which has also harmed economic growth.
Chiou said that although overseas production orders have continued to grow, increasing the nation’s GDP, such activity does not increase real wages in Taiwan, so the new president must facilitate an industrial upgrade to solve the problem of stagnant wages.
National Taipei University professor of economics Wang To-far (王塗發) said the new legislature is to assemble on Monday next week, but the new administration is to take office on May 20, so he is worried that the Ma administration might do something that harms the economy between those two dates.
For example, if the Ma administration allows Chinese companies to merge with or take over firms in the nation’s integrated-circuit design industry, it would threaten the survival of Taiwan’s factories, Wang said, adding now that the Democratic Progressive Party has obtained a majority in the legislature, it must monitor the Ma administration during the transition window.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
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