Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday released a TV spot for her presidential election campaign that focuses on income disparity.
The 60-second television advertisement, titled “The distance between them,” features two young men who live in the same city, but lead dramatically different lives, with one riding a scooter and buying lottery tickets while the other drives a Mercedes-Benz and buys luxuries.
“The commercial tells people that the government should be responsible for a fair social system that allows citizens to enjoy the basic rights of daring to dream and living with happiness,” said Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), spokesperson for Tsai’s campaign office.
Cheng said that with an unemployment rate of 12.5 percent among young people and a housing price-annual income ratio of 16 — compared to 6.1 for New York City — young people feel that they have no future under President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration.
Since Ma is running for re--election, the commercial highlights the hardships facing young people in urban areas and the growing poverty among the middle-class, she said.
Tsai’s economic policy, if she is elected, will focus on creating job opportunities and boosting domestic demand through an innovative local economy, Cheng said.
The TV spot is Tsai’s second official campaign ad.
In her first campaign ad, released early last month, Tsai trumpeted the slogan: “I’m Taiwanese,” which was strongly criticized by Ma’s campaign team and his Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), who accused Tsai of inciting social division.
The administration and the KMT have recently criticized Tsai over her promise to cut the national deficit in half in four years and achieve a balanced budget in eight years if elected, saying she and the DPP were playing a numbers game by using “hidden debts.”
DPP spokesperson Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said the DPP would be able to save a large sum of money simply by completing public projects and programs for less than the KMT government has budgeted.
For example, the former KMT administration had budgeted NT$500 billion (US$17.3 billion), NT$400 billion and NT$150 billion for work on National Highway No. 3, the Datan Power Plant in Taoyuan County and a flood control project on the Keelung River in Taipei respectively. After the DPP took office in 2000, its administration was able to complete the highway job for NT$240 billion, the power plant for NT$110 billion and the river clean-up for NT$32 billion, he said.
“With those three projects alone, the DPP administration was able to save NT$668 billion from the central government’s budget,” Chuang said.
Saving money was a crucial first step in the DPP’s plan to achieve fiscal balance, which it almost achieved in 2007, falling short by about NT$10 billion, he said, saying that the situation worsened after Ma took office the following year.
Ma took a rare step by expanding public spending while offering tax cuts to counter stagnant economic growth, DPP spokesman Liang Wen-jie (梁文傑) said.
“I don’t understand how you can achieve fiscal balance when you borrow more money and cut taxes at the same time,” he said, adding that the national debt had increased by NT$1.3 trillion during Ma’s three years in office.
As for Minister without Portfolio Yiin Chii-ming’s (尹啟銘) remark that the DPP had “fabricated” fiscal information by “hiding debt in public funds or government-controlled businesses,” DPP spokesman Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said it was the KMT that had mastered the numbers game, adding that Yiin was “barking up the wrong tree” because some funds were “self-liquidated.”
If what Yiin said was correct, he should be able to explain why the debt balance of non-business revolving funds, which was not included in the national deficit, increased from NT$566.9 billion in 2007 to NT$716.5 billion last year, Chen said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
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
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