On Tuesday, Director-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics Liu San-chi (
It is widely believed that civil servants eat from a "golden rice bowl," meaning that their jobs are not only well-paid but very secure. People believe that once anyone passes the qualifying exam and gets a civil service post, he or she is set for life. Therefore, in a backdrop of rising unemployment rate, as many as 44,906 people showed up this last Sunday for the Kaohsiung entry-level civil service exam. Since there were only 211 slots, each person had a 0.47 percent chance of being offered a position.
As a result of the lack of restrictions on the applicants' level of education, many holders of doctoral and masters degrees competed with high-school drop outs for the slots. There was also a police crackdown on a crime ring that helped applicants cheat on the tests. Reportedly more than 100 applicants were implicated. All these only go to show how badly people would like to get their hands on one of these "golden rice bowls." If even these jobs become shaky, then the people would truly be convinced about the urgency and the gravity of the financial problems of the government.
There is no question that the government is facing a serious financial crisis. According to government forecasts this fiscal year the government will be short NT$5 trillion. Yet, at the same time, the government is trying to help alleviate the high unemployment rate by implementing two job-creation programs under which jobs are offered by public service and construction projects. This is of course a step in the right direction, since as many as 120,000 jobs will be created as a result. But, the question is: Where is the money?
The government is hoping to issue bonds to fund these two projects. But, the funding needed far exceeds the amount that can be raised by issuing government bonds, unless an exemption from the cap on the amount of money the government can borrow is granted. However, opposition lawmakers won't allow it. They in fact accuse the Executive Yuan of trying to hide ready and available funding from them.
The truth of matter is that the Executive Yuan is unlikely to be crying wolf about being short on money. On Tuesday, Liu said that for the past three years, as government funding gets depleted near the end of the year, the central government has consistently been having problems paying the wages of civil servants for the months of October, November and December.
Moreover, it is an indisputable fact that tax revenues of the government has been declining over the past years. For example, revenue for the last fiscal year shrunk 2.59 percent from the year before. As for this year, so far the revenue is NT$4.3 billion less than the figure from same period last year.
Of course, the main reason for the decline in tax revenue is the large-scale exodus of businesses and industries to China in recent years. This has cost the country jobs and decreased income tax revenue. Under the circumstances, it is a good thing that the government is trying to deal with the problems by implementing job-creation programs. The opposition should pitch in to help, rather than jerking the government around on the budget.
When it became clear that the world was entering a new era with a radical change in the US’ global stance in US President Donald Trump’s second term, many in Taiwan were concerned about what this meant for the nation’s defense against China. Instability and disruption are dangerous. Chaos introduces unknowns. There was a sense that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) might have a point with its tendency not to trust the US. The world order is certainly changing, but concerns about the implications for Taiwan of this disruption left many blind to how the same forces might also weaken
As the new year dawns, Taiwan faces a range of external uncertainties that could impact the safety and prosperity of its people and reverberate in its politics. Here are a few key questions that could spill over into Taiwan in the year ahead. WILL THE AI BUBBLE POP? The global AI boom supported Taiwan’s significant economic expansion in 2025. Taiwan’s economy grew over 7 percent and set records for exports, imports, and trade surplus. There is a brewing debate among investors about whether the AI boom will carry forward into 2026. Skeptics warn that AI-led global equity markets are overvalued and overleveraged
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Monday announced that she would dissolve parliament on Friday. Although the snap election on Feb. 8 might appear to be a domestic affair, it would have real implications for Taiwan and regional security. Whether the Takaichi-led coalition can advance a stronger security policy lies in not just gaining enough seats in parliament to pass legislation, but also in a public mandate to push forward reforms to upgrade the Japanese military. As one of Taiwan’s closest neighbors, a boost in Japan’s defense capabilities would serve as a strong deterrent to China in acting unilaterally in the
An elderly mother and her daughter were found dead in Kaohsiung after having not been seen for several days, discovered only when a foul odor began to spread and drew neighbors’ attention. There have been many similar cases, but it is particularly troubling that some of the victims were excluded from the social welfare safety net because they did not meet eligibility criteria. According to media reports, the middle-aged daughter had sought help from the local borough warden. Although the warden did step in, many services were unavailable without out-of-pocket payments due to issues with eligibility, leaving the warden’s hands
RSS