Economic growth over the past three years was higher than that under the previous administration, and is projected to reach 2.46 percent this year, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday.
Yesterday, Tsai visited the facilities of watercraft propeller manufacturer Solas (般若科技公司) in Taichung with Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅).
Speaking to reporters afterward, Tsai said that economic growth this year has reached 2.42 percent, and is expected to reach 2.46 percent before the end of the year — the highest growth rate among the Asian Tigers, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea, this year.
Photo: CNA
Taiwanese businesses moving facilities back home amid the US-China trade dispute have brought NT$540 billion (US$17.22 billion) in investment back to the nation, she said, adding that total investment could reach NT$800 billion before the end of the year.
“This is an explosive year for investment in Taiwan,” she said, adding that other domestic businesses and foreign investors were also investing more in the nation’s economy this year.
The government has complemented the investments with the tax cuts it implemented in May, the largest to date, she said.
The government is helping workers by raising the minimum monthly salary to NT$23,800, introducing new childcare subsidies and implementing new long-term healthcare policies, she added.
Addressing the anti-extradition bill protests in Hong Kong, Tsai said she hoped the democracy that Hong Kongers were fighting for could be realized.
National security officials have been meeting regularly due to increasingly complex international circumstances, she said.
Asked about public opinion polls showing that she leads Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) going into next year’s president election, Tsai said that surveys should only be used for reference.
Separately yesterday, the Taiwan Forever Association held its annual fundraising dinner, which was attended by Taiwan New Constitution Foundation founder Koo Kwang-ming (辜寬敏) and DPP Chairman Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰).
Tsai has a plan and would comprehensively consider each candidate before choosing a running mate, Cho said.
Koo, who has pushed for Tsai to choose former premier William Lai (賴清德) as a running mate, said that there was still a possibility that the two might run together.
They just need one or two more months to work things out, he added.
Tsai would continue to highlight the achievements of her administration over the next few months leading up to the election, party sources said.
Additional reporting by Lee Hsin-fang
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
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 next minimum wage hike is expected to exceed NT$30,000, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday during an award ceremony honoring “model workers,” including migrant workers, at the Presidential Office ahead of Workers’ Day today. Lai said he wished to thank the awardees on behalf of the nation and extend his most sincere respect for their hard work, on which Taiwan’s prosperity has been built. Lai specifically thanked 10 migrant workers selected for the award, saying that although they left their home countries to further their own goals, their efforts have benefited Taiwan as well. The nation’s industrial sector and small businesses lay
RSS