By Flora Wang
Staff Reporter
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) held an extraordinary meeting with Cabinet officials at the Presidential Office last night to discuss the recent slide in the stock market.
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) told a press conference later that the Cabinet had briefed the president about the nation’s economic problems — including last week’s drop in the stock market and rising commodity prices — as well as proposals to tackle the situation.
Central bank Governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南) reported on the bank’s moves to stabilize commodity prices, while Minister of Economic Affairs Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘) briefed the president on the ministry’s response to rising utility and gasoline prices, Wang said.
The president praised the Cabinet and the central bank for the measures they had taken to rein in soaring prices, Wang said.
“The president believes that the recent rises in commodity prices result from the nation’s dependence on imported energy, but that Taiwan’s situation remains basically healthy,” Wang said.
Yesterday’s was the first meeting convened by the president on the matter.
The Executive Yuan has drawn up plans to increase the number of middle and low-income households that receive utility bill cuts, Wang said, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs will present “unprecedented” incentives today to encourage households to conserve electricity.
“The president acknowledged the Cabinet’s measures and urged members of the Cabinet to sympathize with the public and take care of those who cannot handle rising commodity prices,” Wang said.
Similar meetings with the president will be held at intervals, he said.
A Cabinet-level task force met on Saturday to discuss revitalizing the stock market after Friday’s nosedive to a five-month low.
The task force resolved to encourage domestic insurance companies — which control an estimated NT$8 trillion (US$262.7 billion) in capital — to invest in the stock market and the “i-Taiwan” 12 infrastructure projects.
Meanwhile, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) inspected the Kaohsiung International Airport yesterday ahead of the launching of cross-strait charter flights.
When approached for comment, Liu declined to reveal details of the task force’s proposals, saying only that the team would do the right thing at the right time.
The premier said he should refrain from making comments that could affect the stock market.
During the trip, Liu was criticized by Kaohsiung-area Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators, who complained that only one charter flight from China would arrive in Kaohsiung on Friday, the first day of the flights.
“Kaohsiung residents could not help but shed tears when they found out the direct charter flight schedule for July 4,” KMT Legislator Ho Tsai-feng (侯彩鳳) told Liu.
KMT Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) told Liu “everyone seemed uninterested in Kaohsiung International Airport” when the schedule was made.
“[The schedule] was not something the central government could control. It had to do with the market on the one hand and with whether local governments made enough of an effort on the other,” Liu said.
Four Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government chiefs from the south protested on Friday against the schedule, including Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), who said the schedule was unfair to the south.
Also See: EDITORIAL: The economy can't afford missteps
Also See: Government urges buying local stocks
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
RSS