Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday urged President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to pass the DPP’s version of legislation related to farmers’ subsidies in the legislature as soon as possible.
The KMT, which enjoys a majority in the Legislative Yuan, should take the initiative to solve the controversial issue, which has been stalled for months, Tsai said during a presidential campaign stop in Miaoli County.
“We urge President Ma and the KMT to stop its stalling tactics and end its refusal to initiate inter--party negotiation on the bill by speeding up the legislation process to pass the bill before the current legislative session concludes,” she said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The DPP and the KMT have been engaged in a fierce debate about increasing the elderly farmers’ monthly subsidy, which is NT$6,000 per month.
Different proposals, including ones drafted by the DPP caucus, the KMT caucus, the Executive Yuan and several KMT legislators, still need to be discussed in the legislature.
The DPP caucus proposed raising the monthly subsidy by NT$1,000, but the Executive Yuan on Oct. 20 decided it should be increased by NT$316.
Tsai said that the production of various agricultural produce around the country, — and fruit in particular — has become unbalanced of late.
“However, President Ma has turned a blind eye to the phenomenon, which is difficult to understand because Ma has been traveling around the nation and should be able to understand what is happening,” she added.
The amendment to the Temporary Statute Regarding the Welfare Pension of Senior Farmers (老年農民福利津貼暫行條例) has not cleared the legislature because the issue of farmers’ subsidies has come to resemble a bidding war between the two parties ahead of the Jan. 14 presidential and legislative elections.
While the DPP has proposed an increase to NT$7,000, a number of KMT legislators have come up with different proposals, including increases to NT$7,500 and NT$10,000 a month.
Three KMT legislators, Chung Shao-ho (鍾紹和), Chang Chia-chun (張嘉郡) and Wong Chung-chun (翁重鈞), have said that they would firmly oppose the Executive Yuan’s proposal.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
RSS