President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday announced his administration would give higher childbirth subsidies to female workers who give birth to twins, while offering loans to encourage women to start their own business as he promised to promote women’s rights.
Ma made the announcement at a forum with female labor representatives in Taipei.
Starting next year, female workers who give birth to twins would be entitled to a two-month childbirth subsidy, and those who have triplets can apply for a three-month subsidy.
Current regulations state that all female workers who give birth are eligible for a one-month childbirth subsidy from the labor insurance scheme.
The president also promised a three-year zero interest loan of NT$1 million to female workers who are the main financial providers in their families to help them start their own businesses.
The plan is an extension of the current two-year zero interest loan project.
“Most female workers have heavier responsibilities than their male counterparts as they try to strike a balance between family and work. I’ve always cared about women’s rights since my terms as Taipei mayor and it is my responsibility [as president] to protect their rights,” Ma said.
The announcement was Ma’s latest attempt to appeal to women’s groups ahead of the presidential election.
Earlier yesterday, Ma met with members of the former National Assembly, as the delegates pledged to support him in the presidential election.
The members, led by former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) and former director of the assembly Chen Ching-jang (陳金讓), promised to devote all their efforts to campaigning for Ma.
Ma, who also served as a member of the assembly, used the occasion to defend the so-called “1992 consensus,” arguing that the consensus was reached in August 1992 during a meeting of the National Unification Commission and that “one China” refers to the Republic of China.
Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) presided over the meeting in preparation for cross-strait negotiations between the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) in October 1992 in Hong Kong and, despite the fact that no concrete results were reached during the negotiations, the SEF and ARATS agreed that each side could have its own interpretation of “one China,” Ma said.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
UNKNOWN TRAJECTORY: The storm could move in four possible directions, with the fourth option considered the most threatening to Taiwan, meteorologist Lin De-en said A soon-to-be-formed tropical storm east of the Philippines could begin affecting Taiwan on Wednesday next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The storm, to be named Fung-wong (鳳凰), is forecast to approach Taiwan on Tuesday next week and could begin affecting the weather in Taiwan on Wednesday, CWA forecaster Huang En-hung (黃恩鴻) said, adding that its impact might be amplified by the combined effect with the northeast monsoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the system’s center was 2,800km southeast of Oluanbi (鵝鑾鼻). It was moving northwest at 18kph. Meteorologist Lin De-en (林得恩) on Facebook yesterday wrote that the would-be storm is surrounded by
RSS