President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) policies over the past three years have been ineffective and unbalanced, resulting in dwindling economic growth and a loss of diplomatic allies, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday.
The KMT and its National Policy Foundation think tank held a news conference at the party’s headquarters in Taipei to evaluate Tsai’s performance just as an event was held at the Presidential Office to mark the third anniversary of Tsai’s inauguration.
As the ruling party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) “constantly seeks to oppose [other parties] and lacks a balanced policy structure,” foundation chief executive officer Kao Yuang-kuang (高永光) said.
Photo: CNA
Those shortcomings, combined with the DPP’s “weak execution and double standards,” have led to few accomplishments and increased social disturbance over the past three years, he said.
Tsai’s “failed policies” range from legislation, the economy, the environment and foreign affairs to cross-strait affairs and national defense, Kao said.
For example, the nation’s average economic growth rate has declined from 2.83 percent during former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) eight years in office to 2.4 percent from 2016 to last year, he added.
Photo: CNA
While Ma had signed three free-trade agreements, including the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with China, Tsai has so far signed only two, with Paraguay and Eswatini, Kao said.
“The trade volume between [the two countries] and Taiwan is extremely low and made almost no contribution to the national economy,” he added.
Furthermore, the Tsai administration has lost five diplomatic allies in three years, while Ma lost only one in eight years, Kao said.
KMT caucus whip Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said that the KMT has created a calendar that lists Tsai’s “failed policies” and features a countdown to her last day in office.
The listed policies and issues include last year’s pension reforms for military personnel, civil servants and public-school teachers, alleged voting irregularities at the Nov. 24 elections, labor law amendments and the loss of diplomatic allies, he said.
KMT Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said statistics show that as the ruling party, the KMT outperformed the DPP in economic issues and foreign affairs.
He urged Tsai to make improvements in the remaining months leading up to the Jan. 11 presidential election, adding: “If she cannot, we will be voted back to power.”
Meanwhile, Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) told reporters during a recess at the Kaohsiung City Council that the Tsai administration “has done a terrible job over the past three years.”
Under Tsai’s administration, cross-strait relations have become tense and complaints about the government can be heard from all sectors of society, he said.
A president must work to ensure that people have better lives and if they cannot, their poll results would be low, he said.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) also criticized Tsai, saying that her re-election would be “unfortunate” for Taiwan.
Tsai told the event at the Presidential Office that many have been saying bad things about her, Gou said.
However, the truth is “someone is doing bad things to Taiwan and that person is leading the nation right now,” Gou told reporters during a visit to puppet show studio Pili International Multimedia Co in Yunlin County.
Hong Kong-based American singer-songwriter Khalil Fong (方大同) has passed away at the age of 41, Fong’s record label confirmed yesterday. “With unwavering optimism in the face of a relentless illness for five years, Khalil Fong gently and gracefully bid farewell to this world on the morning of February 21, 2025, stepping into the next realm of existence to carry forward his purpose and dreams,” Fu Music wrote on the company’s official Facebook page. “The music and graphic novels he gifted to the world remain an eternal testament to his luminous spirit, a timeless treasure for generations to come,” it said. Although Fong’s
China’s military buildup in the southern portion of the first island chain poses a serious threat to Taiwan’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply, a defense analyst warned. Writing in a bulletin on the National Defense and Security Research’s Web site on Thursday, Huang Tsung-ting (黃宗鼎) said that China might choke off Taiwan’s energy supply without it. Beginning last year, China entrenched its position in the southern region of the first island chain, often with Russia’s active support, he said. In May of the same year, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) force consisting of a Type 054A destroyer, Type 055 destroyer,
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
POLICY UNCHANGED? Despite Trump’s remarks, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured that US policy toward Taiwan has remained consistent since the 1970s US President Donald Trump on Wednesday again refused to make clear his stance on protecting Taiwan from a hypothetical takeover by China during his presidency. Asked by a reporter during a Cabinet meeting whether it was his policy that China would never take Taiwan by force while he is president, Trump declined to give a definitive answer. “I never comment on that,” he said. “I don’t comment on it because I don’t want to ever put myself in that position.” Trump also reiterated that he has a “great relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and said that Washington welcomes good relations with
RSS