The government may begin offering child-raising subsidies as part of efforts to stave off a looming low birth rate crisis, officials said yesterday.
The officials said the Ministry of the Interior is scheduled to release a white paper on population policy late this month, in which a child-raising subsidy is proposed as a measure to encourage married couples to have more children.
The white paper proposes a progressive child-rearing subsidy system, under which families with children aged six and under would be entitled to a monthly allowance, the officials said.
Families with a child aged under six would be offered a monthly subsidy of NT$2,000, while those with two young children would be given a monthly allowance of NT$3,000, the officials said.
Those with three or more young children would receive a monthly subsidy of NT$5,000.
Ministry officials said the subsidy proposal is based on the findings of a series of public opinion polls that show more than 50 percent of the respondents consistently advocated the financial support measure as an effective step to encourage childbirth.
The white paper sets a goal of boosting the fertility rate from the present 1.2 children born to each woman over the course of her life to 1.6 children born to each woman over a period of 10 years, the officials said.
When the goal is achieved, the number of newborns will reach an estimated 300,000 a year, they said.
As the ministry has received letters from many concerned citizens asking for early disclosure of the contents of the white paper, the officials said, public hearings would be held around the country.
The ministry will refer to all the expert views and public opinions presented at the hearings when putting the final touches on the white paper, which it has spent NT$8 million (US$242,000) preparing, the officials said.
Under the white paper proposals, families with three or more young children will be given a special identification card for their cars so that they can enjoy deductions or exemptions for roadside parking and freeway tolls.
Families with several children would also be offered preferential rates in using public educational, recreational and entertainment facilities, the officials said.
China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday. Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said. These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said. The airspace reserved in the alert is
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
More than 6,000 Taiwanese students have participated in exchange programs in China over the past two years, despite the Mainland Affairs Council’s (MAC) “orange light” travel advisory, government records showed. The MAC’s publicly available registry showed that Taiwanese college and university students who went on exchange programs across the Strait numbered 3,592 and 2,966 people respectively. The National Immigration Agency data revealed that 2,296 and 2,551 Chinese students visited Taiwan for study in the same two years. A review of the Web sites of publicly-run universities and colleges showed that Taiwanese higher education institutions continued to recruit students for Chinese educational programs without
A bipartisan group of US senators has introduced a bill to enhance cooperation with Taiwan on drone development and to reduce reliance on supply chains linked to China. The proposed Blue Skies for Taiwan Act of 2026 was introduced by Republican US senators Ted Cruz and John Curtis, and Democratic US senators Jeff Merkley and Andy Kim. The legislation seeks to ease constraints on Taiwan-US cooperation in uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), including dependence on China-sourced components, limited access to capital and regulatory barriers under US export controls, a news release issued by Cruz on Wednesday said. The bill would establish a "Blue UAS
RSS