Taiwan is rapidly accelerating toward becoming a “super-aged society” — moving at one of the fastest rates globally — with the proportion of elderly people in the population sharply rising. While the demographic shift of “fewer births than deaths” is no longer an anomaly, the nation’s legal framework and social customs appear stuck in the last century. Without adjustments, incidents like last month’s viral kicking incident on the Taipei MRT involving a 73-year-old woman would continue to proliferate, sowing seeds of generational distrust and conflict.
The Senior Citizens Welfare Act (老人福利法), originally enacted in 1980 and revised multiple times, positions older Taiwanese primarily as recipients who require care and support. That framing poses a significant hurdle to creating a society based on intergenerational coexistence and prosperity.
As nations such as Japan, South Korea and the US strive to reframe norms of respect and balance intergenerational responsibility, Taiwan must be vigilant about the three major consequences the “care recipient” legal framework might bring.
Legal definitions carry profound meaning. When the law categorizes elderly people as mere welfare beneficiaries, society reinforces the stereotype that old age equals frailty. It is more than a resource allocation issue; it is a matter of older adults’ self-identity.
Do the “young-old” — people who are healthy, experienced and newly retired — need a basic stipend, or do they need a social platform that enables them to continue contributing and realizing their self-worth? Laws should prioritize securing older adults’ right to employment and professional engagement, rather than just focusing on care and subsidies.
Taiwan is wasting substantial human capital. International trends clearly show that governments should focus on empowerment rather than protection. The US Older Americans Act has over the years been amended to emphasize anti-ageism, promote the social participation of older adults and reduce isolation, reflecting a mindset that views older adults as autonomous citizens.
Japan’s Act on Stabilization of Employment of Elderly Persons mandates that companies protect employees’ rights to work until age 70. Many Japanese corporations have responded by implementing flexible employment measures, such as reassigning older workers to highly specialized “consultant” roles or offering short, high-intensity part-time contracts. The approach treats older adults as contributors, not burdens, allowing them to leverage their experience and knowledge according to their personal capacity and desire.
When older adults are unilaterally defined as people demanding welfare, younger taxpayers are consequently presumed to be their sole supporters who must bear the societal burden. It intensifies young people’s anxiety over social security and healthcare costs, leading them to blame older adults and fueling a sense of generational inequity.
A sustainable intergenerational relationship must be reciprocal and multidirectional. Taiwan’s baby boomers have accumulated immense experience, networks and assets. Legal reforms should initiate a social dialogue on creating a mechanism that allows that experience and wisdom to flow more effectively and equitably to the next generation, rather than solely consuming public resources.
The government should amend the Senior Citizens Welfare Act to drive a comprehensive social design, shifting its focus from what kind of welfare older adults need to what value they bring to society. The priority must expand from merely providing long-term care services to building the essential infrastructure for “active aging.”
What Taiwan truly needs is an “Act for the Empowerment and Coexistence of Senior Citizens.” Only by viewing older adults as people who possess autonomy and can still contribute to society and the economy, and by providing corresponding legal empowerment and anti-discrimination safeguards, can Taiwan genuinely achieve generational coexistence and find a sustainable, universally accepted way of managing an aging society.
Tang Chieh-lang is CEO of the Association of Formosa Retired Persons Union.
Chinese actor Alan Yu (于朦朧) died after allegedly falling from a building in Beijing on Sept. 11. The actor’s mysterious death was tightly censored on Chinese social media, with discussions and doubts about the incident quickly erased. Even Hong Kong artist Daniel Chan’s (陳曉東) post questioning the truth about the case was automatically deleted, sparking concern among overseas Chinese-speaking communities about the dark culture and severe censorship in China’s entertainment industry. Yu had been under house arrest for days, and forced to drink with the rich and powerful before he died, reports said. He lost his life in this vicious
George Santayana wrote: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” This article will help readers avoid repeating mistakes by examining four examples from the civil war between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forces and the Republic of China (ROC) forces that involved two city sieges and two island invasions. The city sieges compared are Changchun (May to October 1948) and Beiping (November 1948 to January 1949, renamed Beijing after its capture), and attempts to invade Kinmen (October 1949) and Hainan (April 1950). Comparing and contrasting these examples, we can learn how Taiwan may prevent a war with
A recent trio of opinion articles in this newspaper reflects the growing anxiety surrounding Washington’s reported request for Taiwan to shift up to 50 percent of its semiconductor production abroad — a process likely to take 10 years, even under the most serious and coordinated effort. Simon H. Tang (湯先鈍) issued a sharp warning (“US trade threatens silicon shield,” Oct. 4, page 8), calling the move a threat to Taiwan’s “silicon shield,” which he argues deters aggression by making Taiwan indispensable. On the same day, Hsiao Hsi-huei (蕭錫惠) (“Responding to US semiconductor policy shift,” Oct. 4, page 8) focused on
In South Korea, the medical cosmetic industry is fiercely competitive and prices are low, attracting beauty enthusiasts from Taiwan. However, basic medical risks are often overlooked. While sharing a meal with friends recently, I heard one mention that his daughter would be going to South Korea for a cosmetic skincare procedure. I felt a twinge of unease at the time, but seeing as it was just a casual conversation among friends, I simply reminded him to prioritize safety. I never thought that, not long after, I would actually encounter a patient in my clinic with a similar situation. She had
RSS