The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday announced the establishment of a new campaign unit to stump on economic issues in the run-up to the Nov. 24 nine-in-one elections.
At a news conference at its headquarters in Taipei, DPP Secretary-General Hung Yao-fu (洪耀福) said that the party has accomplished much in improving the economy, and sharing the fruits of that growth is an important objective of the party.
The DPP platform is defined by reform and creating an economy that will make Taiwan a more equitable, rich and powerful country, he said, adding that improved wages and tax cuts are thanks to the government.
Photo: CNA
Members of the unit are to travel throughout the nation and share their experiences, as well as explain the economic achievements of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration, he said.
In an apparent endorsement of the DPP, heads of the Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions, Federation of Craft Workers Unions and Chung Hwa Rotary Educational Foundation also spoke at the news conference.
The labor incidents bill that the DPP administration is drafting is sympathetic to workers’ interests, Taiwan Confederation of Trade Unions secretary-general Tai Kuo-jung (戴國榮) said.
The government’s draft bill is to place the burden of proof for workplace accidents on employers and improve workers’ accessibility to labor arbitration process, he said.
Should the bill become law, it would rectify the imbalance of power and access to information between employers and workers, he said.
“I support the administration because the labor incidents act would improve working conditions, and more importantly, it is a crucial step toward protecting labor rights and human rights in Taiwan,” he said.
The government has increased the minimum wage by 9.72 percent, or NT$1,992 (US$64.25), and additional increases planned next year are to bring the minimum wage to NT$23,100 per month and NT$150 per hour, Federation of Craft Workers Unions chairman Chang Chia-ming (張家銘) said.
The public had been skeptical of the government’s ability to increase the minimum wage, because it had been unable to do so for eight years when run by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), he said.
“The numbers clearly show that the DPP administration can take care of underprivileged citizens without losing the support of its enterprises,” he said. “Steady increases of the minimum wage would guarantee that the fruits of the economy are shared by all.”
Foreign investments have increased by 75 percent from 2015 to last year, while foreign capital inflow in April was valued at US$2.47 million, representing an increase of 69 percent [baseline of comparison unavailable], Chung Hwa Rotary Educational Foundation chairman Chen Mao-jen (陳茂仁) said.
Google’s decision to expand its operations in Taiwan and Winbond Electronics Corp’s NT$335 billion investment in facilities in Kaohsiung are evidence that tax reforms and deregulation have boosted confidence in Taiwan’s business environment, he said.
The Tsai administration has undertaken important legal reforms that have improved the regulation of businesses, Lawyer Huang Di-ying (黃帝穎) said.
Over the past two years, the Financial Supervisory Commission has made a substantial effort to disentangle the financial sector from its ownership of industries, enhance oversight of business administration and build a fair national market, he said.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but