Lawmakers yesterday finalized negotiations on planned pension reforms for retired military officers and non-commissioned officers, and resolved to send 15 amendments on which no consensus was reached to a vote today.
The disputed amendments center on whether the 18 percent preferential interest rate for some savings accounts of retirees should be phased out, the starting income replacement rate, the eligibility for family members of deceased officers and non-coms to receive benefits and the conditions for splitting pensions in the case of a divorce.
The caucuses agreed to advance those amendments on which consensus had been reached to a second reading at a plenary session.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
To offset a shortfall in the pension fund for military retirees as a result of the government downsizing the military, the four caucuses agreed to assign the Veterans Affairs Council to budget NT$100 billion (US$3.31 billion) in 10 years from the amendments’ promulgation.
The caucuses agreed the council is to budget no less than NT$20 billion every two years over the course of that period.
Legislative Speaker Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) said that he granted a request by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus to assign 20 legislators to speak on the disputed amendments before they are voted on today.
Photo: CNA
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the New Power Party and the People First Party caucuses would each appoint two members to speak, Su said.
The negotiations had a rather “cordial” undercurrent, Su said, who said he hoped that each caucus would take some time to consider whether further consensus could be reached before going into today’s plenary session.
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said that the DPP had anticipated that proposals regarding the starting income replacement rate, the 18 percent preferential interest rate and the portion of salaries to be allocated monthly for the pension fund would have to be put to vote.
He called on the KMT caucus not to filibuster, and refrain from quarrelling over the less controversial amendments scheduled to be voted on today to “set a good example” and change the legislature’s culture.
Asked why members of the KMT caucus did not sign the resolutions reached during the negotiations, KMT caucus secretary-general Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀) said the caucus’ stance is not to endorse “the DPP’s pension reform.”
However, it retracted some of its motions regarding less contentious draft articles during the negotiations, and would respect the resolutions going into today’s vote, Lee said.
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