Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) vowed yesterday to turn President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) campaign promises into policies later this month to facilitate their implementation and pave the way for economic improvement within six months.
“We know that the public has high hopes for the new government, but it would take at least six months before the economy could show signs of an improvement,” Liu said during a question-and-answer session in the Legislative Yuan.
Liu made the remarks in response to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰) who challenged the administration’s capability to improve public livelihoods after the Cabinet’s sudden decision to raise gasoline prices, which sparked widespread criticism.
Liu said all government agencies would propose solutions to deal with the price hikes.
KMT Legislator Luo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) questioned Liu on the budget source for various policies proposed by the Cabinet, including about NT$20 billion (US$660.5 million) in maternity benefits and NT$2.7 billion in subsidies for first-time home buyers.
Liu said the Cabinet would prioritize the policies outlined in Ma’s campaign platform, allocate the budget and turn these proposals into formal policies by the middle of this month.
In response to KMT Legislator John Wu’s (吳志揚) question on the feasibility of realizing Ma’s promise of granting employees two-year maternity leave with 60 percent pay, Minister of the Council of Labor Affairs Jennifer Wang (王如玄) said the council would implement the policy gradually, starting with providing female workers with 60 percent of their salary for the first six months of their two-year maternity leave.
As for Ma’s promise to provide first-time home buyers with a NT$2 million zero-interest loan for the first two years, Minister of the Interior Liao Liao-yi (廖了以) said that the government would make sure that the interest rate in the third year does not exceed 2.27 percent to protect buyers’ rights.
Liao said the policy would be implemented next year.
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