The government's "Challenge 2008" six-year development plan has started to make headway as Taiwan's unemployment rate is expected to dip below 4 percent next year ahead of schedule, Council for Economic Planning and Development Chairman Hu Sheng-cheng (
Hu was addressing the opening of an exhibition on the "Challenge 2008" program at the National Taiwan University stadium in Taipei.
Hu said Taiwan is facing an unprecedented challenge in the 21st century with the combined impact of globalization, technological innovation and green reforms.
The program was drafted by the government against this backdrop two years ago to realize its visions of building Taiwan into a "green silicon island" to enhance the country's competitiveness, Hu said.
The program has produced some preliminary results after the efforts over the past two years, Hu said.
For example, he said, the country's economic growth will reach 5 percent this year; the unemployment rate will drop to below 4 percent next year; and investment in research and development is expected to account for 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2006.
These goals are being achieved ahead of schedule, according to Hu.
On the plan to assist the development of high-value industries, the production of the semiconductor sector will top NT$1 trillion this year, he said.
More than 3.51 million households have access to broadband networking in Taiwan today, and the island successfully completed the construction of the Hsuehshan Tunnel -- the world's fifth-longest and the longest in Southeast Asia -- on Sept. 16, Hu said.
The free trade zone at Kaohsiung Port will start operations in January next year, after the openings of a similar one at Keelung Port on Sept. 30, Hu said.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods