in his New Year's address yesterday, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) vowed to protect the sovereignty and dignity of the Republic of China (ROC) during the course of improving business relations with Beijing.
Ma said that it should be the common objective of the governing and opposition parties to protect peace in the Taiwan Strait and lead the way in developing sound cross-strait relations.
Saying the government valued public oversight, Ma said he would never ignore the voice of the people and all parties and would continue to communicate the government's policies and goals with them to promote national development.
In the address, which focused more on the economy than on cross-strait relations, Ma urged the opposition parties to help salvage the nation's economy. The president also asked companies to refrain from cutting jobs as the domestic economy likely slipped into a recession in the last quarter.
“As people are a company's greatest assets, I am calling on employers to try to avoid layoffs as much as possible,” Ma said.
The government will soon introduce a special budget for spending on public infrastructure and transportation and land conservation projects that will improve the quality of life and the business environment, Ma said.
He also urged civil servants to walk out of their offices and get in touch with the public to be able to help them find solutions to their problems.
He also encouraged them to be flexible and bear public interest in mind, adding that he hoped every civil servant would be as compassionate as Kuanyin, the bodhisattva of compassion.
Ma vowed to push the amendments to the Organic Act of the Executive Yuan (行政院組織法) to build a leaner, more adaptable and effective government. Establishing a government that is administratively neutral is also high on the agenda, he said.
As both sides of the Strait develop closer ties, Ma said it was an opportunity and challenge for Taiwan.
Taiwan must not only upgrade its status in the world economy, but also protect the sovereignty of the ROC and Taiwan's dignity as both sides develop closer business ties, he said.
Taiwan must effectively display its political, social and cultural strengths, so it can play a leading role in the long-term development of cross-strait relations, he added.
While urging companies to take advantage of the warming ties with China, Ma said Taiwan must boost domestic consumption and not rely solely on improving cross-strait relations.
In addition to overcoming the economic challenges, Ma said it was equally important to upgrade the country's international competitiveness and that the cultivation of talent was key. For a country with limited resources, human resources are a valuable asset and the foundation of national competitiveness in a knowledge-based era, he said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus deputy secretary-general Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾), yesterday lauded Ma's New Year's address for touching on topics such as “Taiwan's democracy, tolerance and open-mindedness.”
KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) called the address “pragmatic, useful and not too fancy,” as it focused on how to boost the economy and public confidence.
Prior to the speech, Ma and other government officials attended an early morning flag-raising ceremony to welcome the new year.
Despite the cold weather, the event attracted about 40,000 people to the square in front of the Presidential Office.
About 20 students from the Wild Strawberry Student Movement, however, criticized the administration for stopping them from participating in the ceremony wearing masks of Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), chairman of China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait.
The students originally planned to put on Chen masks and hold up placards that read “Human Rights and Dignity,” when the master of ceremonies led participants in chanting “Long Live the Republic of China” during the flag-raising.
They said the plan was meant to highlight the government's move to stop activists from displaying the national flag during Chen's visit.
But they were prevented by police officers from the Zhongzheng First Precinct from entering Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office.
Police stopped the students on the grounds that they had not obtained a permit for their rally in accordance with the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法).
The student movement has been demanding an immediate amendment to the Act since Chen's visit in early November, saying it violates the public's constitutional rights to freedom of assembly.
“They [the authorities] are even afraid of several pieces of paper [Chen masks],” said Hsieh Sheng-yu (謝昇佑), a spokesman for the movement.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY BLOOMBERG
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
NOVEL METHODS: The PLA has adopted new approaches and recently conducted three combat readiness drills at night which included aircraft and ships, an official said Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) questions. China continues to employ a carrot-and-stick approach, in which it applies pressure with “gray zone” tactics, while attempting to entice Taiwanese with perks, Tsai said. These actions aim to help Beijing look like it has
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
UNWAVERING: Paraguay remains steadfast in its support of Taiwan, but is facing growing pressure at home and abroad to switch recognition to Beijing, Pena said Paraguayan President Santiago Pena has pledged to continue enhancing cooperation with Taiwan, as he and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed opposition to any unilateral change to the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait using force, Japanese media reported on Saturday. Kishida yesterday completed a trip to France, Brazil and Paraguay, his first visit to South America since taking office in 2021. After the Japanese leader and Pena spoke for more than an hour on Friday, exchanging views on the situation in East Asia in the face of China’s increasing military pressure on Taiwan, they affirmed that “unilateral attempts to change the