Retired military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers should accept benefit cuts for the sake of generational justice, New Power Party (NPP) legislators said yesterday, calling for an equal replacement ratio for national pensions.
“There will necessarily be pain and the sacrifice of some vested interests as part of pension reform, but the sacrifices are not for the benefit of any particular group — they are for our next generation and our nation’s future,” NPP Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) said, adding that excessively high income replacement ratios for former government employees were the primary source of “hidden debt” increasing the pressure on the budget.
The nation’s pension system is a complicated web of different funds and guarantees, which have gradually accrued to workers in different sectors with former government employees generally enjoying more generous coverage.
Chang said that former government employees with different pension systems receive pensions that are equal to between 70 and 100 percent of their former salaries, adding that “generational justice” requires that the government refuse assuming responsibility for meeting pension fund obligations after various funds go bankrupt.
“At a time when the nation’s finances face collapse unless reforms are enacted, talking about protecting vested interests is meaningless,” he said, “The government taking responsibility to meet the obligations would effectively shift the debts of this generation to the next.”
There is room for discussion on the precise legal definition of different government pension promises, along with the extent the promises could be constitutionally altered via legislation, he said.
In principle, any pension reform should adjust pension replacement ratios to make their underlying formulas equal across all sectors and occupations, he said, adding that his party would propose specific legislation after the Presidential Office’s pension reform commission makes its final recommendations next year.
Any pension reform plan should be equitable, guarantee a universal minimum pension and respect generational justice, while ensuring the system’s sustainability, NPP legislative caucus convener Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said.
He criticized a protest planned for tomorrow by retired government personnel for failing to outline a clear reform plan, accusing demonstrators of using the differences across occupations to obscure the importance of pension reform.
The NPP’s electoral platform last year called for canceling all non-pension benefits for government personnel while increasing their pension contributions and capping replacement ratios at between 60 and 70 percent.
The party also proposed transitioning to a “pay-as-you-go” pension system to replace the current pension system, which would serve as a “pool” for contributions from workers in different sectors.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as