The Executive Yuan has not given up on proposing a same-sex marriage bill this year, Premier William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday.
Lai made the remark at the legislature in Taipei in response to questions from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a proponent of legalizing same-sex marriage.
Saying that Germany in June passed a marriage equality bill to grant registered same-sex couples the same legal status as heterosexual couples, Hsu asked Lai when the Executive Yuan plans to put forward a same-sex marriage bill.
Asked whether he supports same-sex marriage, Lai said he does, adding that the Executive Yuan is working on a bill and has not ruled out submitting a proposal before the legislative session ends at the end of the year.
Lai on Tuesday told KMT Legislator Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) that it would be difficult for the Executive Yuan to propose a same-sex marriage bill during the current session, which is focused on reviewing budget requests from central government agencies.
Lai yesterday told Hsu that the Executive Yuan is still discussing the bill’s details.
He said the Executive Yuan would follow Constitutional Interpretation No. 748 that was issued by the Council of Grand Justices in May and put forward a bill that is more likely to win the approval of most people.
The Executive Yuan would not delay moving the major policy forward, Lai said.
Later in the day, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) asked Lai why wages in the private sector have not increased, despite an economic recovery.
Exports have risen for 13 straight months; the TAIEX has stayed above 10,000 points for a record 98 days; and per capita GDP and foreign exchange reserves are expected to reach US$25,000 and US$45 billion respectively next year, Lee said.
However, the average salary last year, NT$46,422, was lower than that in 2000, NT$46,606.
Lai said it was because local industries are still in a transitional period, and exports have been heavily reliant on China, which hurt the nation’s trade.
Citing a survey released last month by online job bank yes123, Lee said that despite Lai’s hope that a proposed 3 percent wage hike for public employees would encourage the private sector to follow suit, only 7 percent of private companies surveyed said they would consider giving their employees an across-the-board raise.
The “serious problem” of Taiwanese being paid meager salaries is due in part to a lack of legal basis for separating their minimum wage from what foreign blue-
collar workers make, which averages just below NT$20,000, marginally below the legal minimum wage for Taiwanese, NT$22,000.
However, the work of foreign employees, many of whom are caregivers, and Taiwanese workers by and large are very different in nature, he said.
He called on the Cabinet to evaluate whether setting foreign workers’ minimum wage at NT$22,000 would pressure employers to raise salaries for local workers.
He urged the Cabinet to complete such an assessment by June next year, when the wage increase for public employees is set to take effect.
Lai agreed, adding that small and medium-sized enterprises are granted tax deductions if they raise employee salaries by a given margin.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Instead of focusing solely on the threat of a full-scale military invasion, the US and its allies must prepare for a potential Chinese “quarantine” of Taiwan enforced through customs inspections, Stanford University Hoover fellow Eyck Freymann said in a Foreign Affairs article published on Wednesday. China could use various “gray zone” tactics in “reconfiguring the regional and ultimately the global economic order without a war,” said Freymann, who is also a nonresident research fellow at the US Naval War College. China might seize control of Taiwan’s links to the outside world by requiring all flights and ships entering or leaving Taiwan
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
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