A civil servant pension reform plan proposed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers would destabilize the current system and put government workers at greater financial risk, Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said yesterday,
Chen made the statement before attending the opening ceremony of the Global Cooperation and Training Framework’s International Workshop on Combating Cross-Border Fraud, in response to media queries for comment on the amendment to the Act Governing Civil Servants’ Retirement, Discharge and Pensions (公務人員退休資遣撫卹法) proposed by the KMT caucus.
The proposed amendment would freeze this year’s decrease in the income replacement ratio for retired teachers and government workers.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
The ratio has been reduced for five consecutive years.
Chen said he respects lawmakers’ rights to propose amendments but added: “I want to remind them that it is not easy to build a good pension fund system. The pension fund reform we proposed was accepted by all, and we have adjusted retirement fund payments for retirees based on the changes of the consumer price index each year.”
“We hope that the amendments proposed by KMT lawmakers will not destabilize the current pension fund system, which would put retired civil servants, teachers and military personnel at greater financial risk,” he said. “That would be the last thing anyone wants to see.”
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) pushed for a reform of the pension fund system for civil servants, teachers and military personnel when she took office in 2016, Chen said, adding that the goal is a sustainable system in which retirees can continue receiving retirement funds while they are alive.
“We want to thank all the government workers and teachers who support the pension fund reform, which helps preserve the system,” he said.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS