Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (
"Ma said I don't know anything about the economy," Hsieh said. "I say he has no idea about ordinary people's happiness."
Hsieh said that while Ma was happy because he had increased his personal wealth by NT$46.3 million (US$1.4 million) over the past 10 years, he had no idea how ordinary people live their lives.
PHOTO: CNA
The idea of economic prosperity that Hsieh advocates, Hsieh said, is to ease the plight of the people. If elected, he said he would make an effort to create more jobs, give unemployed people something to do and make houses more affordable.
Criticizing the high real estate prices in Taipei City, Hsieh said people with an average income would not be able to afford a place of their own because a 30-ping apartment in the capital city now costs approximately NT$15.4 million.
While Ma described the high property prices in the city a sign of "prosperity," Hsieh said that he would like to point out two things.
First, average household disposable income in Taipei City, where Ma served as mayor, increased by 14 percent from 1998 to 2006, while that in Kaohsiung City, where he served as mayor, grew by 18 percent.
During the same period, Hsieh said the population in Taipei City decreased by over 24,000, while that in Kaohsiung City increased by 35,000. Taipei City lost 14,000 people last year alone and household disposable income decreased by NT$15,000 from 2005 to 2006.
Second, 40 percent of the monthly salary of a regular income earner in Taipei City goes on mortgage payments, while the figure in Kaohsiung City was 28 percent, with 25 percent universally accepted as a reasonable amount, he said.
In other words, a married couple with a joint monthly income of NT$70,000 were estimated to pay between NT$35,000 and NT$45,000 for a 25-ping apartment in the capital city, he said.
Dismissing Ma's praise of Taipei's high property prices as "irresponsible," Hsieh said that in the nation generally there is a big gap between rich and poor, but that it is most serious in Taipei City.
"Ma interpreted it as a result of the free market economy, but how does he know anything about the plight of ordinary people when his personal account increased by more than NT$40 million over the past 10 years," Hsieh said.
Hsieh said he is not in favor of government intervention in the real estate market, but that the government is duty bound to help the young and disadvantaged find a place to live.
He proposed that the government release state-owned land for the construction of public housing to be rented to people above 25 years of age. Such a privilege would be offered on a once-in-a-lifetime basis.
To alleviate the financial burden on young tenants, he proposed the government offer a 40 percent discount on rent for the first two years and a 20 percent discount for the following two years.
He also proposed a low-interest loan program to make real estate affordable to young people. Under the program, first-time buyers would be entitled to interest-free loans.
The government would build more dormitories on campuses and make efforts to stabilize real estate prices so that young people could afford a house of their own, he said.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai