President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has already broken his campaign promises less than a month after winning re-election, taking a sharp turn on a wide range of policies, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday.
Ma proposed implementing a social housing program and reiterated his opposition to lifting the import ban on US beef during his re-election campaign, but he and his administration are now making dramatic U-turns on those issues, DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) told a press conference.
Minister of the Interior Lee Hong-yuan (李鴻源), who was sworn in on Monday, said yesterday that no more new social housing projects will be planned.
The Ma administration, which imposed a ban on US beef import in 2009, is now considering easing the ban on beef containing the controversial livestock feed additive ractopamine.
“Ma’s failure to keep his campaign promises is not new. A lot of his pledges in the 2008 presidential campaign were broken during the next four years,” Chen said.
The sudden change of policy on social housing and US beef are only “the tip of the iceberg” in terms of Ma’s broken promises, she said, adding that Ma had also “lied to Taiwanese” about the impact of the cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA).
Newly appointed Council of Economic Planning and Development Minister Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘) was quoted in an interview yesterday as saying that the first-year results of the ECFA had not been as good as expected.
The Ma administration estimated that Taiwanese businesses would save at least US$9 billion in tariffs after the ECFA was signed, she said. However, according to statistics from the Bureau of Foreign Trade, actual tariff cuts last year amounted to less than US$200 million.
Statistics also showed that Taiwanese exports to China grew by 8.1 percent last year and Chinese exports to Taiwan increased by 20.5 percent. While US$13.1 billion in Taiwanese investment went to China last year, Chinese investment in Taiwan was less than US$50 million.
“Ma lied to Taiwanese when he said Beijing ‘yielded benefits’ to Taiwan when signing the trade pact. In fact, China is the beneficiary,” DPP Legislator Huang Wei-cher (黃偉哲) said.
“These numbers show that Ma did not tell people the truth before the presidential election,” Huang said.
Not only Ma, but also officials in his administration have shown inconsistency in their policymaking, often sending out mixed and conflicting messages, Huang said.
For example, Lee’s decision cease planning any more social housing projects was a “slap in the face” to Ma and Deputy Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺), the former minister of the interior.
Intentionally or unintentionally, government officials often announce policies prematurely and then cancel them after public opposition and heated discussion, Huang said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain
When Paraguayan opposition lawmaker Leidy Galeano returned from an all-expenses-paid tour of six Chinese cities late last year, she was convinced Paraguay risked missing out on major economic gains by sticking with longtime ally Taipei over Beijing — a message that participants on the trip heard repeatedly from Chinese officials. “Everything I saw there, I wanted for my country,” said Galeano, a member of the newly-formed Yo Creo party whose senior figures have spoken favorably about China. This trip and others like it — which people familiar with the visits said were at the invitation of the Chinese consulate in Sao Paulo
RSS