Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) promised yesterday that if elected, he will push for legislation to boost the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Hsieh made his pledge during a visit to the Changhua Coastal Industrial Park in Changhua County.
As the existing statute promoting industrial upgrading will expire next year, Hsieh said new legislation was needed to provide a legal basis for the government to assist SME development and upgrading.
Noting that SMEs form the backbone of the nation's economy, with 76 percent of the working population working in the SME sector, Hsieh said he will give priority to helping SMEs if he wins the presidency next year.
"Offering SMEs access to bank loans and assistance in land acquisition and manpower recruitment should be listed among the government's major national policies, "Hsieh told representatives of businesses based in the park.
The industrial park visit was the first leg of Hsieh's campaign tour of central Taiwan, which is aimed at promoting his "well-being economy" policy platform.
This week Hsieh is scheduled to visit Taichung-based Giant Manufacturing Co, one of the world's leading bicycle manufacturers and hold talks with business representatives at the Central Taiwan Science Park in Taichung County, Hsieh campaign staff said.
Meanwhile, Hsieh's running mate, Su Tseng-chang (
Cheng Hsi-kun, chief executive officer of the DPP America-West Chapter and an executive of the Los Angeles Branch of the DPP's presidential election overseas campaign group, said Su will visit seven American and Canadian cities.
Su will depart Taipei on Dec. 1 and first visit Houston and San Francisco and will then join a campaign activity to be held by the party's branch in Pasadena City, Los Angeles, on Dec. 2, he said.
This meeting will involve as many people as took part in a previous activity held for Hsieh in Los Angeles in July, Cheng said, adding that the overseas Taiwanese community is paying close attention to the presidential election slated for March 22 next year.
Su will then head for Miami on Dec. 4, New York on Dec. 7 and Toronto on Dec. 8. He will return to Taiwan after attending another campaign activity in Vancouver on Dec. 9, Cheng said.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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