President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday promised not to sacrifice the rights of workers in exchange for a better economic performance, adding that the government will devote more effort to addressing unemployment issues.
“With limited natural resources, Taiwan should focus on developing its human resources. In other words, Taiwan would not have such achievements without its labor labor. We definitely cannot sacrifice the rights of workers for a better economic performance,” he said in a post on his Facebook page.
Following a meeting with representatives from eight labor associations on Friday, Ma said the groups expressed concerns about the rising unemployment rate, especially among the younger generation, and that the groups expected the government to create more employment opportunities for young people.
Ma said the increasing numbers of students studying at universities and colleges in Taiwan, changing employment conditions and the imbalance between demand and supply of talent for industries contributed to the increasing unemployment rate among young people.
Ma said the government will launch a “industry college” program that will invite corporations to offer job training courses to students.
The government will also enhance career development courses or job training programs to strike a balance between demand and supply for industry ready workers, he added.
Under the proposed 12-year education plan, students who enroll in vocational high schools will not have to pay tuition fees, regardless of their families’ income starting next year, while a NT$1.48 million (US$49,000) annual income threshold is set for high-school students.
“We will give more subsidies to vocational school students in an effort to attract more talent to the vocational sphere, so that traditional industries and small businesses can find the talent they need,” he said.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
Both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a political foundation based on the “1992 consensus” and opposition to Taiwanese independence, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today said during her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Both sides of the Strait should plan and build institutionalized and sustainable mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation based on that foundation to make peaceful development across the Strait irreversible, she said. Peace is a shared moral value across the Strait, and both sides should move beyond political confrontation to seek institutionalized solutions to prevent war, she said. Mutually beneficial cross-strait relations are what the
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
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