The office of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) said on Sunday it would organize three seminars in the coming months on issues relating to Taiwan’s economic development.
With more than 30 local economists invited to take part, Lee hopes they can discuss the challenges facing Taiwan’s economy and that the conclusions reached at the seminars could be considered by the government, said Wang Yen-jun (王燕軍), Lee’s office director.
The first of the seminars will be held on May 27 and will focus on the impact of the global situation on Taiwan, while the second, scheduled for June 3, will address challenges posed to Taiwan by emerging markets.
The third seminar, set for June 10, will look into the market economy and the role of the government, Wang said.
Lee’s staff have been planning the events since November last year, Wang said. Also, Lee has discussed the issues to be raised at the seminars with former government officials and think tank members, including Taiwan Brain Trust president Wu Rong-i (吳榮義), former Council for Economic Planning and Development minister Hu Sheng-cheng (胡勝正) and National Taiwan University economics professor Kenneth Lin (林向愷), she added.
Wang also dismissed a report in the Sunday edition of the Chinese-language United Daily News that relations between the former president and the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) were cooling.
Wang described the report, which was based on Lee’s reduced interaction with the party and the little support it received before the Jan. 14 presidential and legislative elections, as subjective and partial.
Although Lee is seen as a “spiritual leader” by many of the party’s members whose careers have been advanced by the former president, that does not mean he actually leads the party, Wang said.
TSU Secretary-General Lin Chih-chia (林志嘉) said the party will closely follow Lee’s moves and that its legislative caucus will act accordingly to help bring more attention to issues of mutual concern.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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