Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday that the nation faced a difficult situation and that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration was incapable of leading it through.
“Taiwan needs a leader with a cool head to lead us through the difficult situation we face right now. However, the government sets new fires every day and then has to spend time dealing with the political crises it creates itself,” Tsai said in a speech delivered to members of the Ketagalan Academy Alumni Association.
The Ketagalan Academy, established in 2003, is the brainchild of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and aims to nurture officials for roles in a future DPP administration.
Tsai said that as a result of the European debt crisis and other situations, the global economy was deeply unstable and people were increasingly concerned about such issues as economic recession, unemployment and the growing wealth gap.
Taiwan faces a similar crisis she said, adding “We need to ask the government how it plans to counter these problems and where is it leading the nation?”
Taiwan has become less competitive since Ma took office in 2008, Tsai said
The problem lies in the government’s lack of efficiency, she said, adding the way the government is organized was inherited from the authoritarian Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) administration, which has no mechanism to facilitate coordination between ministries so as to respond to and seek to resolve problems as quickly as possible.
“Currently we see the president directing ministries and ministers. The Cabinet and ministries do not appear to have their own voice,” Tsai said.
In the face of such government inefficiency, members of the public should work to form a stronger civil society and speak out on public affairs, thereby helping the public communicate with the government on policy-related issues.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
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A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it