If elected, Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, would offer annual subsidies of NT$30,000 to NT$60,000 (US$983 to US$1,967) for newborns, his policy advisory team told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
The policy would address the nation’s declining birthrate, which has become “the greatest national security issue,” said former premier Simon Chang (張善政), the KMT’s vice presidential candidate.
Under Han’s policy, families would receive an annual subsidy of NT$30,000 for every baby — or NT$60,000 if the child is not the firstborn — until the child is six years old, Chang said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
From its sixth year, the program is expected to cost NT$57 billion more per year than the government’s current childcare budget, he said.
Asked about funding for the program, Chang said that Han would review the NT$880 billion budget President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration has planned for the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program and other programs.
The proposed childcare policy also includes compulsory preschool programs for five-year-olds, and waiving preschool tuition fees for children aged three and four, said former minister of education Wu Ching-chi (吳清基), a Han policy adviser.
For children under three, Han would establish development centers to stimulate learning and offer medical services, Wu said.
Han would increase the number of public childcare services to make affordable childcare more widely available, said National Taipei University professor of social work Chen Fen-ling (陳芬苓), another Han policy adviser.
Tsai, who is seeking re-election as the Democratic Progressive Party’s presidential candidate, last week said that her administration plans to increase childcare subsidies for those aged up to six,which Chang yesterday described as “100 percent a rip-off” of Han’s idea.
The Tsai administration has “zero ability” in policy design and only knows how to squander money, he said.
“What do we need a president like this for? All she can do is copy other people’s idea,” he said.
Han’s childcare policy appears to be based on a proposal that Hon Hai Precision Industry Co founder Terry Gou (郭台銘) made while he was contesting the KMT presidential primary this year.
Amanda Liu (劉宥彤), a member of Gou’s campaign team and a legislator-at-large candidate for the People First Party, on Friday said that the idea of the government helping to raise children up to the age of six was first proposed by Gou.
While it might be the most talked about policy proposal of the entire presidential election campaign, it is a shame that the one who proposed it is no longer in the race, Liu said.
Nevertheless, it has brought about positive change by directing the conversation between presidential candidates to concrete discussion of childcare policy, she said.
Additional reporting by Huang Chia-lin
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