Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) yesterday presented an Executive Yuan report on the results of policies of the Democratic Progressive Party administration, touting successes in cleaning up corruption, and improving ethics, financial management, economic development and welfare programs.
“Campaigning has begun for the presidential and legislative elections early next year,” Chen said. “Candidates representing political parties are sparring over various issues. This is the mark of freedom and democracy in Taiwan.”
“However, in the past few days, people have seen inaccurate information aimed at misleading the public, intending to discredit government policies and negate the many good results achieved by diligent efforts from people working together,” he said.
Photo: Liao Chen-hui, Taipei Times
Each ministry should make a comprehensive and accurate assessment of their achievements to share with the public to reiterate the importance of openness and transparency, he said.
The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and other ministries scored well for transparency, anti-corruption and ethics in the National Integrity Awards organized by the Ministry of Justice’s Agency Against Corruption, Chen said.
“Quite a few local governments received awards this year,” Chen said, adding that an evaluation by Transparency International last year put Taiwan 25th on its Corruption Perception Index alongside advanced democracies in Europe, North America, and only surpassed in Asia by Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong.
The World Competitiveness Ranking compiled by Lausanne, Switzerland-based IMD Business School for the past three years has consistently ranked Taiwan high for economic development, the premier said.
“Taiwan has done well in the past few years and we are making steady improvements in such international rankings,” Chen said.
“However, when election campaigning starts, people start making irresponsible comments and sharing false reports to attack government policies,” he said.
The Cabinet’s Six Core Strategic Industries program, launched in 2020, includes the information and digital industries, cybersecurity, precision healthcare, green and renewable energy, national defense and strategic stockpile industries, Chen said.
It also initiated the 5+2 Innovative Industries Program to bring about balanced regional development and create more job opportunities, with the focus on the Internet of Things, biomedical, green energy, smart machinery and defense industries, as well as high-value agriculture and the circular economy, he said.
“Economic growth has been good since 2016,” he said. “Taiwan even achieved a new high of 6.53 percent GDP growth in 2021, when the world was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The minimum wage has been increased each year for eight consecutive years from NT$20,008 in 2016 to NT$27,470 last year, while the minimum hourly age rose from NT$120 to NT$183 over the same period, he said.
“Our government has pushed for housing justice, with the Cabinet ordering 95,000 units of public housing to be built by the end of this year, along with programs to increase fair pricing for leasing and renting,” he said.
Moreover, a rent subsidy program has approved 60,000 applications and is expected to reach 500,000 by the end of this year, which would help ease housing costs, he added.
Separately, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Charles Chen (陳以信) castigated the government’s economic performance.
“Our party gives the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government’s economic performance a fail. It could not fix the issue of low wages faced by young people, with university graduates having virtually the same salary as a high-school graduate,” he said.
The consumer price index has been high, which does not affect wealthy people much, but significantly impacts poor people, he said.
“The disparity between rich and poor people is at an all-time high in Taiwan, and no concrete policies have been proposed to address the situation,” Charles Chen said.
“The DPP administration has only made the lower classes more permanent, while rich people get richer,” he said, adding that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) must apologize.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS