The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday criticized the Ministry of Civil Service’s actuarial report on pension reform, saying that it was completed in only four days and questioning its credibility.
Referring to the government’s more than NT$882.4 billion (US$29.35 billion) Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program, the KMT caucus accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government of “borrowing money for pork-barreling on the one hand, while rushing to cut the pensions of civil servants, public-school teachers and military personnel in the name of the nation’s financial difficulties on the other.”
“So far, we have only heard the government’s point of view about its pension reform plan; the voices of those being reformed has been absent,” KMT caucus secretary-general Alicia Wang (王育敏) said. “In addition, the actuarial report for pension reform was finished in four days, an incredible speed which has left us no choice but to question its credibility.”
“The report was made public on April 18 without the names of the actuaries involved being printed; the responsibility for authoring the report was put out to tender on April 13, with the bidding process concluding and a contract being signed on that day,” KMT Legislator William Tseng (曾銘宗) said.
“No actuarial model was provided and there was no third-party review. Is there any impartiality in the report or is it worthy of reference?” Tseng asked.
The Ministry of Civil Service tabled the reform proposal before April 13 indicating that the proposal was not based on the actuarial report, KMT Legislator Yang Cheng-wu (楊鎮浯) said.
“The report cost NT$1.2 million and was completed in four days, which included a weekend,” Yang said.
“Since it has become apparent that the actuarial project bids put up [by the ministry] have all been won by the same company in past years, we suspect that it simply used past data for the report this time and that is why no names were offered until they were demanded by lawmakers,” KMT Legislator Lin Te-fu (林德福) said, calling on the Ministry of Civil Service to re-examine the report.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
RSS