Taiwan’s economy should be built to resemble a vessel that is safe and durable like Noah’s Ark, rather than a Titanic that stresses speed and size and ignores the fundamentals, former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) wrote in a statement yesterday.
Lee used the analogy to highlight his analysis of Taiwan’s economy in a seminar, organized by Taiwan Advocates, a think tank founded by the former president, which focused on national economic development.
Lee’s daughter, Annie Lee (李安妮), read the speech on behalf of the former president, who was fighting a mild case of the flu and was unable to attend.
“There are two pillars in Taiwan’s national economic security — an identity built upon economic and trade independence and a sustainable momentum of growth built upon technological advantages,” the 89-year-old wrote.
In the face of the threats posed by the global financial crisis, he wrote, Taiwan should reconsider the subordination of the banking economy to the real economy, reduce its dependence on China and promote agricultural and energy independence.
Lee Teng-hui said the agriculture and manufacturing sectors should be the main drivers of the economy, with the banking system secondary.
The current economic model of transferring most of the nation’s manufacturing overseas, particularly to China, is like “selling souls to the devil” and only benefits large corporations, he wrote.
Agriculture and renewable energy, he said, could be Taiwan’s key sectors as both provide job opportunities and promote economic growth.
Lee concluded by saying that the government should not stress trade liberalization and exports while ignoring the importance of national economic security and independent agriculture and energy.
The government should protect people’s basic standard of living in the future and restore people’s confidence on the market economy, he said.
The conference, which discussed Taiwan’s challenges in the current global economic situation, was the first of three seminars organized by the Taiwan Advocates that focus on Taiwan’s economic development.
Speaking on the sidelines of the conference, Annie Lee told reporters why her father said “there was no need for the Democratic Progressive Party to call for Taiwanese independence.”
“The establishment of national identity has been one of the most important concepts for my father. The necessity of the call for independence is really worth thinking about,” she said.
The most important task for the government is providing well-being and stability for the people, she added.
“There would be no country without the people,” she said.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
RSS