President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday he hoped the economy would improve this year, but acknowledged that it would not be easy.
“It will take a lot of effort and maybe some luck, because much of it cannot be changed by our efforts alone,” Ma said while speaking at the Presidential Office’s Lunar New Year greetings ceremony yesterday morning.
Ma said the public might have the impression that he did not jump to the “front line” in responding to public concerns, but that was because his constitutional duty is to set policy for cross-strait relations, national defense and foreign affairs.
PHOTO: CNA
There is no such thing as a “front line” or “second line,” Ma said, because he and Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) participated in the decision-making process for major government policies, such as providing 100 percent guarantees on bank deposits, issuing consumer vouchers, implementing economic stimulus measures and creating jobs.
Ma also lauded his policies on national defense, cross-strait affairs and other foreign affairs, saying his approach had yielded positive effects and received “universal welcome” from the international community.
Ma said Beijing’s gift of two giant pandas demonstrated the improved atmosphere in the Taiwan Strait. What mattered was not that the public had the opportunity to see the rare animals, he said, but that Taiwan had reached the global standard in conserving endangered species.
“First, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species [CITES] was not against the matter,” Ma said. “And second, both sides of the Taiwan Strait look at the pandas from a humane point of view, rather than from a political viewpoint.”
The secretariat of CITES considered the importation of the pandas from China as “domestic trade” and as such did not need to be reported to CITES.
Ma said that eased cross-strait tensions not only took a lot of pressure off his administration, but also “pushed forward government policies in the right direction.”
“There won’t be any unexpected or strange situation,” he said. “That is the normal thing that a normal country and a normal government should do.”
Ma said that he expected to see a challenge on the economic front, but that a clean, efficient, proactive and friendly government would help resolve the problem.
Later, speaking at the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Lunar New Year greeting ceremony, Ma said the direction of government policy to combat the global financial crisis was correct and that the Executive Yuan deserved recognition for formulating good policies, including the consumer vouchers.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)