A main opposition party is an integral and indispensable part of a thriving democracy. However, the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) cynical exploitation of the tense scene and tragic accident outside the Legislative Yuan on Tuesday morning was unhelpful and dangerous.
There are several incontrovertible truths about the wave of pension reforms, especially those pertaining to military personnel.
First, it is imperative these reforms are carried out. The Public Service Pension Fund has been in the red since 2011. The hidden debt from the pension system last year stood at NT$18 trillion (US$615.8 billion at the current exchange rate). If the government does not see through the reforms, the military pension program will be bankrupt by 2020.
Second, due to a combination of the cold reality of the situation and a heady mix of misinformation and misunderstandings, people who have served this nation, with the expectation that they would be well looked after in their retirement, are justifiably — because of their understanding of the situation — scared and angry. Tuesday was testament to this.
Third, economic and demographic changes the world over are causing the governments of many nations to reassess their pension systems, often resulting in more modest payments or later retirement ages. Nowhere are these changes popular, but at least people are being given the chance to adjust to the changes when they are introduced incrementally and with adequate lead times.
Why is the government having to push through such painful reforms only two years before the system is expected to go bankrupt? It is almost criminal negligence, but not on the current administration’s part.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration held numerous talks about the impending bankruptcy and resolved to take action, but in the end preferred to kick the can down the road over fears of a political backlash among its core voters.
Which leaves us here.
Early on Tuesday morning, the day Premier William Lai (賴清德) was to give an administrative report to the legislature, pension reform protesters stormed the Legislative Yuan compound, demanding that the government delay its pension reform bill review until further talks with retirees could take place.
During the protest, retired colonel Miao Te-sheng (繆德生) fell from the third floor while attempting to scale the building.
He remains in intensive care at National Taiwan University Hospital.
In an attempt to diffuse the situation, Lai said legislative discussions would be postponed pending further public consultation on the matter, while President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) called for a more rational debate on reform.
Meanwhile, KMT Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義), Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and former KMT chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) attended the protest against a reform their own party had reneged upon, despite being fully cognizant of how imperative it was.
Hau said the protest had “shaken the nation to its core,” while Hung said that if the government did not proceed cautiously there would be a riot.
She is right. There could be a riot. These reforms are highly contentious, the climate is tension-filled, and thank you, KMT, for doing your utmost to stoke those tensions for its own political expedience, especially since it dropped the ball when it was in power.
The government has to act swiftly and decisively. The pension fund is already perilously close to collapse. The government needs to confer with the public and make a decision. The issue needs to be carefully considered, but a degree of certainty and clarity is of utmost importance if tensions are to abate before things get out of control.
We do not want to hear that the discussions will be postponed indefinitely. The government needs to set a time frame, be decisive and keep the public in the loop.
The Executive Yuan recently revised a page of its Web site on ethnic groups in Taiwan, replacing the term “Han” (漢族) with “the rest of the population.” The page, which was updated on March 24, describes the composition of Taiwan’s registered households as indigenous (2.5 percent), foreign origin (1.2 percent) and the rest of the population (96.2 percent). The change was picked up by a social media user and amplified by local media, sparking heated discussion over the weekend. The pan-blue and pro-China camp called it a politically motivated desinicization attempt to obscure the Han Chinese ethnicity of most Taiwanese.
On Wednesday last week, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta published an article by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) asserting the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) territorial claim over Taiwan effective 1945, predicated upon instruments such as the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation. The article further contended that this de jure and de facto status was subsequently reaffirmed by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 of 1971. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs promptly issued a statement categorically repudiating these assertions. In addition to the reasons put forward by the ministry, I believe that China’s assertions are open to questions in international
The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment on Friday last week to add four national holidays and make Workers’ Day a national holiday for all sectors — a move referred to as “four plus one.” The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who used their combined legislative majority to push the bill through its third reading, claim the holidays were chosen based on their inherent significance and social relevance. However, in passing the amendment, they have stuck to the traditional mindset of taking a holiday just for the sake of it, failing to make good use of
As strategic tensions escalate across the vast Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan has emerged as more than a potential flashpoint. It is the fulcrum upon which the credibility of the evolving American-led strategy of integrated deterrence now rests. How the US and regional powers like Japan respond to Taiwan’s defense, and how credible the deterrent against Chinese aggression proves to be, will profoundly shape the Indo-Pacific security architecture for years to come. A successful defense of Taiwan through strengthened deterrence in the Indo-Pacific would enhance the credibility of the US-led alliance system and underpin America’s global preeminence, while a failure of integrated deterrence would
RSS