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.
FIREPOWER: On top of the torpedoes, the military would procure Kestrel II anti-tank weapons systems to replace aging license-produced M72 LAW launchers Taiwan is to receive US-made Mark 48 torpedoes and training simulators over the next three years, following delays that hampered the navy’s operational readiness, the Ministry of National Defense’s latest budget proposal showed. The navy next year would acquire four training simulator systems for the torpedoes and take receipt of 14 torpedoes in 2027 and 10 torpedoes in 2028, the ministry said in its budget for the next fiscal year. The torpedoes would almost certainly be utilized in the navy’s two upgraded Chien Lung-class submarines and the indigenously developed Hai Kun, should the attack sub successfully reach operational status. US President Donald Trump
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
RSS