While protests triggered by disputes between employers and employees are common in Taiwan, Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) vowed to come up with policies that would benefit businesses, the public and government once elected.
Tsai yesterday announced on Facebook that she met with electronics manufacturing firm Pegatron’s chairman Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢) on Tuesday last week and has learned how moves by the government might affect businesses, resulting in her vow to create policies that would accommodate the interests of workers, companies and the state.
“Private businesses feel the impact of government inefficiency deeply,” Tsai said on Facebook. “He [Tung] used system design in the information technology industry as an analogy, proposing that the government could learn what the public is thinking through a good system design, and use a new management system to improve efficiency and have faster reactions to public opinion.”
She said that the information and communications technology and design industries are “Taiwan’s hopes,” and that if the industries could help the government to create systems for long-term elderly care or food safety, they could certainly set a new model for public services and enhance the quality of life for the public — and even open a new sector for the industries’ development.
“This way, we could create a ‘win-win-win’ situation for businesses, the public and the government,” Tsai said.
Tsai’s office said that, although the meeting between Tsai and Tung took place a day before Tsai’s meeting with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co chairman Morris Chang (張忠謀), it was only made public yesterday, because of a request by Pegatron.
Tsai has been touring the nation to meet with the political, opinion and business leaders since she received the official nomination as her party’s candidate for next year’s presidential election.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei MRT is to begin accepting mobile payment services in the fall, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said on Saturday. When the company finishes the installation of new payment units at ticketing gates in October, MRT passengers can use credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, the operator said. In addition, the MRT would also provide QR payment codes — which would be compatible with Line Pay, Jkopay, iPass Money, PXPay Plus, EasyWallet, iCash Pay, Taiwan Pay and Taishin Pay — to access the railway system. Currently, passengers can access the Taipei MRT by buying a single-journey token or using EasyCard,