Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
Chang called on lawmakers to help achieve the goal by speeding up legislation required for WTO entry and implementing proposals put forth by last month's Economic Development Advisory Conference.
"The country is faced with a host of challenges, both domestic and foreign," the premier said, referring to the global economic downturn, a series of natural disasters, upcoming WTO membership and sharpened competition from Beijing. "We must stay united and turn the challenges into opportunities."
Chang said that the government will continue the transition to a "knowledge-based" economy and plans to devote NT$36 billion over the next five years to the task.
Related agencies will create 44,000 job opportunities in the following year to help ease unemployment caused by the transition, he added.
Underscoring the importance of financial reform, Chang said that the Cabinet would continue to tighten its oversight of financial institutions in a bid to bring them on par with international competitors.
To that end, the financial reconstruction fund has taken control of 36 financial institutions with poor management and dangerously high non-performing loan ratios.
As WTO accession in January is expected to boost cross-strait trade, Chang urged Beijing to put aside political disputes and resume dialogue with Taiwan.
"The government has decided to replace the `no haste, be patient' policy with `active opening, effective management,'" he said. "But unilaterally, it cannot improve cross-strait ties."
A recent series of natural disasters have apparently impressed upon the government the urgency of conservation, as the premier asked the legislature to quickly review bills aimed at establishing a national geological information management network.
The lack of soil conservation and improper deforestation are blamed for the heavy casualties caused by typhoons Toraji and Nari that ravaged Taiwan in late July and earlier this week, respectively.
"Environmental protection and economic progress are not parallel lines that will never meet," he said. "We can strike a balance between the two with careful planning."
It remains unclear if the opposition-controlled legislature will pass the hundreds of bills requested by the Cabinet, though caucuses have promised to work overtime before adjourning for the general elections.
Chang's speech was postponed by nearly two hours, due to a boycott by independent lawmaker Liao Shueh-kuang (廖學廣), after he failed to get his pet bill -- flood prevention for his constituency of Hsihchih -- onto the legislative calendar.
Liao fled the legislative chamber after another independent lawmaker, Lo Fu-chu (
Lo, who was banned on April 12 from participating in the legislature for six months for attacking a female colleague, was reportedly linked to Liao's brief abduction in 1996.
As a time-saving measure, the ruling DPP caucus has waived its right to interpellation for the fall session and pressed its opposition counterparts to follow suit.
"No issues are more urgent than the relief work," DPP legislative whip Tsai Huang-liang said. "Yet the interpellation will confine all Cabinet ministers to the legislature for weeks."
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