Chen said that in the economic White Paper published during the presidential campaign, Ma vowed to invest NT$3.9 trillion (US$122.46 billion) over eight years in order to create 120,000 new job opportunities a year and push the growth rate up to 6 percent.
In the white paper, Ma said that his economic proposals would raise per capita income to US$20,000 by 2011 and to US$30,000 in 2016 and would reduce the unemployment rate to below 3 percent in four years, Chen said.
When questioned by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators William Lai (賴清德) and Wong Chin-chu (翁金珠) in the legislature’s plenary session on May 30, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said that the Cabinet would resign if it could not achieve the goals in four years.
Executive Yuan Spokeswoman Vanessa Shih (史亞平) said that the Cabinet would make every effort to implement Ma’s economic policies.
Meanwhile, DPP legislators criticized Ma, saying that he had cheated voters and should apologize for failing to deliver and reshuffle his Cabinet.
“When Ma proposed his ‘6-3-3’ policy, he did not say that it would take eight years to accomplish. As a presidential term is four years, people expected results within four years,” DPP legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) said at a press conference.
“The people voted for Ma hoping for a better economy, but now that dream has gone. Instead Taiwan is facing economic regression and the government has no way to solve it,” DPP Department of Culture and Information Director Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said.
Ma owes the public an apology, the DPP caucus said, adding that he should consider naming a new premier capable of delivering on his campaign promises.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators defended Ma.
KMT caucus Secretary-General Chang Sho-wen (張碩文) said Ma did not intend to deceive the voters with his “6-3-3” policy and urged the public to give the administration more time.
KMT Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) praised Ma’s honesty.
“He modified his promise after realizing that there was a gap between [his] ideal and the reality ... He was facing the reality honestly,” she said.
When asked for comment, KMT Legislator Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁) expressed confidence Ma would reach his “6-3-3” goals within four to five years, saying that the increase in international crude oil prices and global inflation were expected to fall in the near future.
But KMT Legislator Ting Shou-chung (丁守中) said Ma should consider replacing Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) if his goals were not reached in four years.
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