Premier William Lai (賴清德) urged employers to raise the starting salaries for their employees at a meeting with business leaders yesterday.
During his first breakfast meeting with the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce, Lai asked business leaders, including association director Lin Por-fong (林伯豐), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co chairman Morris Chang (張忠謀) and Fubon Financial chairman Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠), to invest in the nation’s development and follow in the footsteps of the government’s planned wage hike for public-sector employees to stimulate the market.
The unemployment rate has fallen to 3.75 percent, and 175,000 more jobs need to be created to reduce it to 2 percent as per the Singaporean standard, Lai said.
Better salaries would allow the nation to keep local talents from Chinese, Japanese and South Korean competitors, and the economy could improve if the brain drain could be slowed, Lai said.
The nation’s GDP growth is expected to reach 2.58 percent this year and surpass 2 percent next year, he said.
“Making progress in national development requires cooperation between public and private sectors, and between employers and employees,” Lai said.
Economic development is the Cabinet’s top priority, and the administration has introduced a series of policies, including the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program, the New Southbound Policy and the “five plus two” industrial innovation program, Lai said.
Lai said he has put forward several economic policies since he took office in September, including a 3 percent wage hike for public employees; a tax reform package introducing tax reduction measures for salaried employees; proposals to alleviate five types of industrial shortages; as well as a set of deregulation measures to increase work flexibility.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet would next month introduce measures to create a friendly childrearing environment to tackle the nation’s critically low fertility rate and aging population, he said.
Business representatives said that work flexibility is necessary for business development and promised to ensure labor rights protection, Lai said after the meeting.
Business leaders did not make any further demands on the Cabinet’s proposed amendment to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), which would ease overtime rules, Lai said.
The association made 39 suggestions in the categories of solutions to industrial shortages, tax reform, innovation, the finance industry’s international expansion, the New Southbound Policy and cross-strait issues, as well as Taiwan’s regional development.
Lin asked the government to ensure a stable power supply and consider nuclear power as an option while avoiding imposing strict air pollution regulations.
Eight Chinese naval vessels and 24 military aircraft were detected crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait between 6am yesterday and 6am today, the Ministry of National Defense said this morning. The aircraft entered Taiwan’s northern, central, southwestern and eastern air defense identification zones, the ministry said. The armed forces responded with mission aircraft, naval vessels and shore-based missile systems to closely monitor the situation, it added. Eight naval vessels, one official ship and 36 aircraft sorties were spotted in total, the ministry said.
INCREASED CAPACITY: The flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays would leave Singapore in the morning and Taipei in the afternoon Singapore Airlines is adding four supplementary flights to Taipei per week until May to meet increased tourist and business travel demand, the carrier said on Friday. The addition would raise the number of weekly flights it operates to Taipei to 18, Singapore Airlines Taiwan general manager Timothy Ouyang (歐陽漢源) said. The airline has recorded a steady rise in tourist and business travel to and from Taipei, and aims to provide more flexible travel arrangements for passengers, said Ouyang, who assumed the post in July last year. From now until Saturday next week, four additional flights would depart from Singapore on Monday, Wednesday, Friday
The Ministry of National Defense yesterday reported the return of large-scale Chinese air force activities after their unexplained absence for more than two weeks, which had prompted speculation regarding Beijing’s motives. China usually sends fighter jets, drones and other military aircraft around the nation on a daily basis. Interruptions to such routine are generally caused by bad weather. The Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 26 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait over the previous 24 hours. It last reported that many aircraft on Feb. 25, when it spotted 30 aircraft, saying Beijing was carrying out another “joint combat
Taiwan successfully defended its women’s 540 kilogram title and won its first-ever men’s 640 kg title at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday. In the women’s event, Taiwan’s eight-person squad reached the final following a round-robin preliminary round and semifinals featuring teams from Ukraine, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Basque Country and South Korea. In the finals, they swept the Basque team 2-0, giving the team composed mainly of National Taiwan Normal University students and graduates its second championship in a row, and its fourth in five years. Team captain
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