President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) promised yesterday that his administration would reflect on its performance and make an effort to narrow the gap between its policies and public expectations.
Ma made the remarks at a luncheon with Examination Yuan members at the Taipei Guest House, his first public response to the tens of thousands of people who took to the streets on Saturday to demand the government protect national sovereignty, improve the economy and pass “sunshine laws.”
Ma said the public has great expectations for his administration, but soaring prices for oil and imported goods have challenged his campaign promise to improve the economy.
Although his campaign pledges were long-range, Ma said his administration would listen to the people and make an effort to improve the situation.
Although organizers said more than 300,000 people turned up at the rally, Ma said the event attracted only 50,000 people.
Presidential Office spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said later that Ma had simply “cited the number given by the Taipei City police.”
Ma said he agreed with the demands of protesters, because his administration also wanted to protect the nation’s sovereignty, revive the economy and promote transparent politics.
Wang said the government has made efforts to ensure safety and integrity since taking office and that they would mark “sunshine laws” as priority bills during the next legislative session.
“Except for ideology, the president supports the protesters’ demands,” Wang said.
Ma also vowed to push government reform to upgrade government competitiveness. To strengthen the training of civil servants, he floated the idea of testing applicants’ English in national examinations.
Later yesterday, the Taiwan Society, which organized the rally, issued a list of demands. It asked Ma to apologize for failing to fulfill his “6-3-3” economic goals, give up his salary for not realizing his election promises, pass “sunshine laws” within six months, issue taxpayers a rebate and let Taiwanese decide the future of cross-strait relations.
In his “633” economic goals, Ma proposed to drive up the annual economic growth rate to 6 percent,annual per capita income of US$30,000 by 2016 and keep the unemployment rate at less than 3 percent.
Wang did not give direct answers to the first two demands, saying only that the administration would make efforts to put them into practice.
Regarding the “sunshine laws,” Wang said the administration would make efforts to pass the bills but stopped short of promising to doing so in the period requested.
On the issuing of a tax rebate, Wang said it was a public issue and deserved more debate. As for the last demand concerning cross-strait relations, Wang said that as the country has transformed itself into a democracy, the people of Taiwan have always had a say in the democratic institution.
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
One person was killed and another seven injured today when a tourist shuttle bus plunged 30m to 40m down a ravine in Nantou County, the Tourism Administration said. The bus is suspected to have suddenly accelerated out of control near the flower center of the Sun-Link-Sea Forest Recreation Area, a popular attraction during cherry blossom season. Of the eight onboard, a 66-year-old man was killed, four were seriously injured and three sustained minor injuries, including the driver. The Nantou County Police Department said it received a report of the incident at 12:15pm and dispatched seven teams to assist. All surviving passengers have been transferred
RSS