President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday called for peace and understanding as the legislature began its review of pension reform proposals.
The reform proposals have been moved forward following a year of public discussions at meetings of the Presidential Office’s pension reform committee, public hearings and a national conference on pension reform, Tsai said.
The Executive Yuan and the Legislative Yuan have proposed draft bills to lower income replacement rates, increase pension premiums, raise the retirement age and phase out the preferential savings rate for retired military personnel, civil servants and teachers.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
“It is the last mile to complete the reform,” Tsai said at a news conference in the Presidential Office in Taipei.
“As president, I want to say thank you to all public employees. It is because of your understanding that the reform is possible and that young public employees have hope for the future,” Tsai said.
“Former administrations — be it run by the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] or the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] — knew where the problems lay, but they never completely reformed the pension systems, although efforts were made,” she said. “The responsibility has fallen on us and we have to share the burden and go full out to complete the task. The reform has to succeed.”
Tsai also called for peace after some protesters tried to physically obstruct the legislative review.
“We will not tolerate the use of violence to delay reforms. Authorities will investigate any violence that obstructs legislators, government officials or other personnel from entering the Legislative Yuan,” she said.
A total of 11 incidents were reported yesterday, with Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), Taipei Deputy Mayor Charles Lin (林欽榮), Changhua County Commissioner Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷), DPP legislators Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) and Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) and New Power Party Legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) allegedly being assaulted when they tried to enter the Legislative Yuan.
“The goal of pension reform is not to target or stigmatize anyone. The reform is like halting a horse on the edge of a cliff, and it is critically urgent to save the pension fund from the brink of bankruptcy,” Tsai said.
Her administration would complete the reform and make pensions sustainable and fair, she added.
Minister Without Portfolio Lin Wan-i (林萬億) said he does not expect legislative review of the proposals to be finalized by the end of next month, and an extraordinary session is likely to be called to complete the review.
Lin, who serves as deputy convener and executive director of the pension reform committee, said further discussions are needed in terms of the speed of the phase-out of the 18 percent preferential savings rate for retired public employees and the minimum monthly pension for military personnel.
The committee proposes phasing out the preferential rate in six years, while the DPP favors two years and the NPP three years, so further negotiations are needed to settle the differences, he said.
While the committee has yet to set a “pension floor” that would allow retired military personnel whose monthly pension falls below this figure to continue to enjoy the 18 percent preferential rate, Lin said the “floor” would not be set above NT$40,000.
The floor set for public servants and teachers is NT$32,160.
“Reforms have to ensure a basic standard of living for retirees because reforms have to be humanitarian,” he said.
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
RSS