President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday his administration planned to create 100,000 jobs this year, with the goal of driving unemployment down to 4.9 percent.
“Our goal is to bring [the unemployment rate] down to 4.9 percent this year,” he said. “It’s not an easy task, but the electronics and high-tech sectors are beginning to make profits and the unemployment rate is gradually showing signs of recovery. We plan to create 100,000 job opportunities this year, as well as help new college graduates get jobs.”
Ma made the remarks in Hualien County as he attended a Lunar New Year tea party in his capacity as Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman.
Ma said the goal of the country’s economic recovery plan was to aim for more employment opportunities, which required the participation of the public. The government would not serve only big businesses or the rich, he said, but let the entire public, especially medium and low-income families, benefit from economic rehabilitation.
Ma also visited Chiang Mei-hua (江美華), a supporter in Hualien who drew media attention when the Chinese-language United Daily News quoted her yesterday as saying she “did not have any feelings” for Ma following the KMT’s poor showing in local elections last month.
In the county commissioner and city mayor elections, the KMT clinched 12 of the 17 counties and cities, garnering 47.88 percent of the total votes, a drop of 2 percent from the 2005 elections. Although the Democratic Progressive Party secured only four areas, it received 45.32 percent of the total ballots, a 7.2 percent increase.
During the meeting with Chiang and a group of friends, Ma used a notebook to take notes.
Chiang told Ma she and her friends were faithful supporters of the KMT and him. She said, however, they were distressed that legal cases regarding former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had yet to be resolved, she said.
They told Ma to refrain from nominating outsiders to run in local elections as there are many outstanding individuals in Hualien and asked him to help resolve Hualien’s high unemployment problem, which they said drove young people away and left old people stuck at home. They also urged the government to resolve the long-standing difficulty of getting train tickets to Hualien.
Ma said strengthening the county’s tourism industry would help boost employment. He said he understood the ticket problem and would try to improve it.
During the tea party, Ma again pledged to improve the transportation system to Hualien, saying he hoped the construction of a “safe road home” — referring to proposed improvements to the Su-Hua Freeway — would begin this year.
He urged the KMT to unite and continue reform, saying that without it there is “no future” and “without unity, there is no power.”
“The problem of the KMT is not that it lacks power, but that it is not united enough,” he said. “Previous elections have taught us that we win if we are united and lose if we are divided.”
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
RSS