The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has proposed amendments to the Act Governing Civil Servants’ Retirement, Discharge and Pensions (公務人員退休資遣撫卹法) that would put the brakes on pension reform progress.
On April 12, legislators voted on the KMT’s motion to review its draft amendments. The KMT and the Democratic Progressive Party mobilized their legislators, and the KMT’s motion passed by just one or two votes in the three rounds of votes taken. However, the day’s votes were annulled due to an anomaly.
Meanwhile, the Taiwan People’s Party, which one might expect to support pension reforms from the standpoint of young people, decided to abstain.
The three parties’ lawmakers rallied around their respective party lines, but the important issue of pension reforms should not be a party-political battlefield.
In the US, the Democratic and the Republican parties are often locked in conflict, but many bills of national strategic importance are passed after a consensus is reached between the two parties. Whichever party is in opposition does not oppose every bill just for the sake of opposing it. That willingness to cooperate is a normal state of affairs in a mature democracy, as opposed to acting as if there is an election being held every day.
Pension reform is one of those issues that ruling and opposition parties should reach a consensus on. Taiwan’s falling birthrate is obvious just looking at the number of births recorded each year. The number of new workers joining the labor market falls with each passing year, while the number of people retiring keeps increasing.
All the policies adopted in the past were based on the false assumption that the working population would continue to grow. Welfare policies that include healthcare and pensions, must be comprehensively reviewed. If not, serious problems are sure to arise, possibly in the short term, but at least within the next decade or so. It does not take a mathematical genius to work out these simple facts.
Of course opposition parties are there to supervise the government. However, when it comes to the obviously serious problem of pension reforms, if the opposition wants to criticize anything, it should be that the existing reforms do not go far enough and are being implemented too slowly.
In light of Taiwan’s population structure, it is clearly no longer possible, as it was in the past, to be generous with other people’s money. That would result in each generation carrying a heavier burden than the one before, as the next generation keeps shrinking or possibly even disappear if the burden is too heavy. Couples of childbearing age might decide not to have children, who would in effect be born into debt. Alternatively, they might simply emigrate.
Political news media have reveled in the spectacle of the cliffhanger vote on pension reforms, with parties thinking of any possible way to criticize and blame each other. However, it would be wrong for the three parties not to push pension reform forward — which has to be done one way or another — by reaching a consensus.
Does the KMT want to be in opposition forever? If the government’s tax revenue is completely doled out to retirees who are no longer productive, it would cause government debt to spike, while not enough money would be invested in anything else.
If the KMT gets back into power at some point and takes over a country that is financially bankrupt, with crumbling infrastructure due to insufficient maintenance and construction, who will be blaming whom? Any future KMT government would wish it could get ahold of today’s KMT legislators and give them a thorough scolding.
Inter-party wrangling, with each party having its own standpoints, is a normal state of affairs in the world of politics. However, if one wants to oppose something just for the sake of it, one has to pick the right issues to squabble over. The pension system must be reformed. The only problem is that it has not been reformed fast or thoroughly enough. There is no room for further delay, still less for backtracking.
For Taiwan to have a future, it must invest in young people, not just dole out money to the elderly. As for young people themselves, they should open their eyes and see which party’s political machinations are destroying their future.
Tommy Lin is president of the Formosa Republican Association and the Taiwan United Nations Alliance.
Translated by Julian Clegg
The return of US president-elect Donald Trump to the White House has injected a new wave of anxiety across the Taiwan Strait. For Taiwan, an island whose very survival depends on the delicate and strategic support from the US, Trump’s election victory raises a cascade of questions and fears about what lies ahead. His approach to international relations — grounded in transactional and unpredictable policies — poses unique risks to Taiwan’s stability, economic prosperity and geopolitical standing. Trump’s first term left a complicated legacy in the region. On the one hand, his administration ramped up arms sales to Taiwan and sanctioned
The US election result will significantly impact its foreign policy with global implications. As tensions escalate in the Taiwan Strait and conflicts elsewhere draw attention away from the western Pacific, Taiwan was closely monitoring the election, as many believe that whoever won would confront an increasingly assertive China, especially with speculation over a potential escalation in or around 2027. A second Donald Trump presidency naturally raises questions concerning the future of US policy toward China and Taiwan, with Trump displaying mixed signals as to his position on the cross-strait conflict. US foreign policy would also depend on Trump’s Cabinet and
The Taiwanese have proven to be resilient in the face of disasters and they have resisted continuing attempts to subordinate Taiwan to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Nonetheless, the Taiwanese can and should do more to become even more resilient and to be better prepared for resistance should the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) try to annex Taiwan. President William Lai (賴清德) argues that the Taiwanese should determine their own fate. This position continues the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) tradition of opposing the CCP’s annexation of Taiwan. Lai challenges the CCP’s narrative by stating that Taiwan is not subordinate to the
Republican candidate and former US president Donald Trump is to be the 47th president of the US after beating his Democratic rival, US Vice President Kamala Harris, in the election on Tuesday. Trump’s thumping victory — winning 295 Electoral College votes against Harris’ 226 as of press time last night, along with the Republicans winning control of the US Senate and possibly the House of Representatives — is a remarkable political comeback from his 2020 defeat to US President Joe Biden, and means Trump has a strong political mandate to implement his agenda. What does Trump’s victory mean for Taiwan, Asia, deterrence