I was born in Yunlin County, where the number of deaths has exceeded births for 16 consecutive years. The population has been declining since 2008. This reflects a trend where young people, after finishing school, do not stay in Yunlin. Instead, they head to cities like Taipei or Taichung for job opportunities and a more vibrant lifestyle.
A friend of mine faced the dilemma of not finding suitable employment opportunities in her hometown after graduating from university. She hoped to find a job related to her profession in Yunlin County, but job opportunities there were limited. She had to leave her hometown and seek better career prospects in Taipei. Such stories are not uncommon in Yunlin County, as many young people confront similar dilemmas.
Taiwan faces an increasingly severe demographic challenge. The population is concentrated in urban areas, while rural areas are grappling with labor shortages and an aging population.
To tackle the issue, the National Development Council announced the Regional Revitalization Policy in 2019, aiming to encourage proactive thinking at the local level to boost regional industrial development. The goal is to attract younger people back to rural areas, promote internal migration within Taiwan and alleviate the excessive population concentration in cities.
The regional revitalization policy has been in place for six years, and the government has invested a significant amount of money, yet there have been no major results. Most young people still choose to work in cities. Successful projects are highlighted by the government, but more often they have fallen short, and the underlying issues remain unresolved. Why are young people unwilling to return to their hometowns? Is it due to flawed policies, or are there other factors at play?
Policies designed to address immediate social issues tend to be reactive. The current approach is more proactive, focusing on setting goals and a vision for what needs to be accomplished in the coming years. However, these policies still prioritize short-term interests and lack continuity. When a project ends, there is often no one to continue the work. Most rural residents focus on just getting by. The poor do not have the luxury of focusing on regional development.
Autonomous community organizations and enterprises are typically less powerful and have less resources. The government sector tends to have plenty of resources, but often lacks long-term planning and continuity, focusing solely on immediate and achievable goals. Cross-sectoral collaboration remains mostly theoretical and idealistic and is rarely put into practice.
Long-term and sustainable development of a region requires community engagement to be succesful, and complemented by support and assistance from the public sector.
However, issues in Yunlin County have led me to question whether Taiwanese genuinely care about the nation’s welfare. Would young people continue to move away from their hometowns in pursuit of higher salaries and better living conditions? Are the hyped slogans just blueprints that would never be achieved?
What is happening in the private sector is instructive. Corporations prioritize economic development over environmental concerns, resulting in pollution and damage to the environment.
Do Taiwanese sincerely love their homeland, or are they primarily concerned with accumulating wealth over the deeper welfare of the nation? Successful policy implementation might not be sufficient to arrest the decline unless Taiwanese begin to truly value their home.
Before we make the place, we need to love the place.
Wei Jung-shu is a student in the Department of International Affairs at Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages.
China’s supreme objective in a war across the Taiwan Strait is to incorporate Taiwan as a province of the People’s Republic. It follows, therefore, that international recognition of Taiwan’s de jure independence is a consummation that China’s leaders devoutly wish to avoid. By the same token, an American strategy to deny China that objective would complicate Beijing’s calculus and deter large-scale hostilities. For decades, China has cautioned “independence means war.” The opposite is also true: “war means independence.” A comprehensive strategy of denial would guarantee an outcome of de jure independence for Taiwan in the event of Chinese invasion or
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) earlier this month said it is necessary for her to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and it would be a “huge boost” to the party’s local election results in November, but many KMT members have expressed different opinions, indicating a struggle between different groups in the party. Since Cheng was elected as party chairwoman in October last year, she has repeatedly expressed support for increased exchanges with China, saying that it would bring peace and prosperity to Taiwan, and that a meeting with Xi in Beijing takes priority over meeting
The political order of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) first took shape in 1988. Then-vice president Lee succeeded former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) after he passed, and served out the remainder of his term in office. In 1990, Lee was elected president by the National Assembly, and in 1996, he won Taiwan’s first direct presidential election. Those two, six and four-year terms were an era-defining 12-year presidential tenure. Throughout those years, Lee served as helmsman for Taiwan’s transition from martial law and authoritarianism to democracy. This period came to be known as the “quiet revolution,” leaving a legacy containing light
Gulf states did not ask the US to go to war with Iran, but many are now urging it not to stop short by leaving the Islamic Republic still able to threaten the Gulf’s oil lifeline and the economies that depend on it, three Gulf sources said. At the same time, these sources, and five Western and Arab diplomats said Washington was pressing Gulf states to join the US-Israeli war. According to three of them, US President Donald Trump wants to show regional backing for the campaign to bolster its international legitimacy as well as support at home. “There is a wide
RSS