Cross-strait relations
■ The party that wins the election should immediately convene a conference with the official opposition to reach a consensus on the cross-strait issue.
■ The governing party must rebuild trust between the government and the people, and reconstruct a system of mutual trust between political parties to advance a “Taiwan consensus.” The consensus should not set a timetable nor have a predefined stance.
■ Prior to gaining an internal consensus, the cross-strait relationship should maintain the “status quo,” with the peaceful development of cross-strait relations as the highest guiding principle.
■ Leaders across the Taiwan Strait should have more active interaction and dialogue to establish normalized negotiation and dialogue mechanisms, and make the establishment of official offices across the Strait their goal in the next four years.
■ The PFP calls on China to respect Taiwan’s international social activities to improve Taiwan’s responsibility as a part of international society.
■ Soong sees the “rapid unification” or “rapid independence” proposed by political parties and political figures as impractical under the current international political and economic environment.
■ Promote the passage of a cross-strait peace advancement bill (海峽兩岸和平促進法) to establish a stable interactive mechanism across the Strait.
■ Continue with the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), but also lobby for free-trade agreements with other countries.
National security/foreign policy
■ In terms of a national security strategy, use national defense to safeguard economic development and use the country’s developed economy to support national defense.
■ As military strategy, use mobile and rapid response forces, and maintain strong asymmetric warfare capabilities.
■ Combine the practice of conscription and volunteer military service, with volunteer service as the main branch and conscription as backup, adjusted according to the will of the people.
■ Increase armaments and forces for the navy, air force and marines and enforce the construction of a capable missile system.
■ Aside from using self-made armaments, Taiwan needs to cautiously conduct necessary foreign arms purchases. However, all foreign arms purchases must follow the preset condition that all arms purchased would be used for the benefit of Taiwan.
■ Increase the official capacity of foreign offices and representative offices, and enforce those offices’ capabilities to meet the needs of Taiwanese traveling abroad.
■ Actively participate in sectarian organizations, international humanitarian organizations and NGOs.
■ Make sure of the aptitude, moral standards and loyalty of all foreign diplomats.
Government reform
■ The government should first resolve the five special municipalities, then, after a year or two, use the experience of special municipality mergers to process governmental structure reforms.
■ Instead of changing the overall governmental structure, first reform the attitudes of government officials, changing them from passive official units to facilities that actively offer their services.
■ The central and local governments’ self-governing and fiscal authorizations should be re-evaluated and fine-tuned. Increasing the authority of local governments would increase their capability to attract investments and promote local development, as well as decrease developmental differences between urban areas and the countryside, as well as the north and south of the country.
Energy
■ Actively implement reform, lower energy consumption annually and ration energy-consuming industries. Buildings and everyday necessities should also promote viable designs and energy-saving measures.
■ The Jinshan, Guosheng and Ma-anshan nuclear power plants should be retired as scheduled. All nuclear power plants should be inspected and reinforced according to the highest safety standards, and if necessary, foreign nuclear experts and technical assistance should be sought.
■ A committee of experts should evaluate and decide whether the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant could be changed to generate energy for commercial use.
■ Re-calculate overhead costs for nuclear energy and make the figures public.
■ Actively develop renewable resources, such as wind energy.
■ The government should invest in research and development of new energy sources, such as tidal energy or geothermal energy, to raise the possibility of using renewable energy sources.
Education/Youth
■ Educational funding should receive 15 percent of the central government’s total budget, with the government subsidizing counties and cities if the local governments come up short.
■ Twelve years of compulsory education is not enough to meet current social demands and should be extended by three years, resulting in a 15-year compulsory education system.
■ Prior to implementing the 15-year system, the government should take care of the private and vocational school systems, as well as establish public kindergartens.
■ Expand children’s education and implement mass-establishment of public kindergartens, mandating bilingual education at both public and private kindergartens.
■ The government will subsidize the costs incurred by raising and sending children to kindergartens with the “8-6-5” system, as set out below:
(1) NT$8,000 for all newborn babies;
(2) NT$6,000 for all children one to two years old;
(3) NT$5,000 for all children three to four years old;
(4) Children above three would start schooling in the kindergarten section of elementary school, becoming part of the 15-year compulsory education.
Health insurance
■ In addition to not wasting medical resources, attention must be paid on how the medical system could be improved while balancing medical resources between urban and country areas.
■ Promote bilingual policies for patient records and medical supplies.
■ Inform people clearly about their medical conditions and give clear information on how to use drugs and medication.
■ Pricing for medication and drugs should be made transparent and people should be able to check how much they pay for their treatment.
■ Cross-check the accuracy of hospital reports to prevent hospitals from getting National Health Insurance funding for patients they have not treated.
■ The Bureau of National Health Insurance should gradually raise the payment amount for single persons on a salary, but each raise should not exceed the predefined ratio, to lessen the impact on civilian rights.
Culture
■ Establish two principles for mainstream culture:
(1) The local areas are the mainstream, with the central government responsible for negotiations;
(2) The private sector calls the shots, and the government helps.
■ Implement and free the concept of space and thought and help the development of cultural creative industries.
■ The Ministry of Culture should emphasize the different needs of different cultural and arts groups, establishing a reasonable system of distribution of finite cultural resources so that all ethnic and cultural groups have a fair chance of development.
Finance/taxes
■ Implement tax reforms immediately. The new taxes should not only increase government income, but also help decrease civilian discontent because of the unequal distribution of resources. It should also help to promote socioeconomic development in line with environmental protection.
■ In order to promote and maintain equilibrium in local development and avoid a growing difference between urban areas and the countryside, the PFP would mediate between the Ministry of Finance and local governments by proposing an amendment to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) to bolster local governments’ funding.
■ Levy a 1 percent to 2 percent special education donation as part of a business tax to fund the 12-year compulsory education system. However, foodstuffs constituting everyday necessities would be exempted from this tax.
■ Consider levying taxes to promote environmental protection, such as an environmental tax on air, water or land pollution, as well as a tax on fuel use and carbon emissions.
Agriculture
■ Re-establish management rules for differentiation of arable land.
■ The contents of the regulations should not only adhere to natural environmental conditions, but also take into consideration the accessibility and usage of water, including the distribution of water resources between agricultural use, industrial use and urban use.
■ Improve the rate of self-sustainable food production and maintain strict oversight of foodstuffs safety.
■ Help less well-off farmers on the way toward profitable farming, as well as helping small to middle-size agricultural-based industries on the way to scientific agricultural production.
■ Establish systematic production and sales management to protect the basic rights of farmers.
■ Reform farmers’ subsidies and make it a part of a national retirement fund system to be created in the future.
Social welfare
■ Focus on Taiwan’s problems of a decreased birthrate and an aging society, and encourage more births by giving subsidies and promoting child-care systems, also creating new industries and work opportunities.
■ A care system for seniors and patients with chronic illnesses should be established as soon as possible.
■ Help low-income and middle-income families to shake off poverty within three years.
■ Offer career opportunities and living environments for the physically and mentally challenged.
■ Offer shelters and havens for abused women and create post-retirement job opportunities for women.
■ Protect laborers’ rights and provide workplace recharging plans and average-price housing plans.
Ethnicity
■ Respect Aboriginal culture and gradually implement Aboriginal self-government, giving Aboriginals equal opportunities to partake in education, health and economic resources.
■ Strengthen the capability of the Aboriginal comprehensive foundation fund and implement consultation for Aboriginals on how to overcome difficulties and obstacles when starting their own careers, including managing skills for running micro-enterprises.
■ Plan protection of the natural ecology; tourism; or running farms, fisheries and herding grounds based on Aboriginal characteristics, as well as protecting Aboriginal rights of priority employment.
■ Integrate the various Hakka academies in separate universities and propose policy suggestions for the long-term development of Hakka culture.
■ Promote the Hakka Yimin Cultural Festival as one of Taiwan’s intangible cultural relics.
■ Strengthen the cultural creative industry of Hakkas, as well as integrating dynamic everyday Aboriginal aspects into such industries.
Source: www.pfp.org.tw
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