Widely seen as one of the potential candidates to pair with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to run in the 2004 presidential election, Premier Yu Shyi-kun recently has been working hard to impress Chen by making his pledges become a reality.
One of the immediate examples is the senior stipend program, which is one of Chen's campaign promises. In the "333 welfare program," Chen set out the goals of making health insurance free for children under the age of three, giving people over the age of 65 a NT$3,000 monthly subsidy until a national annuity plan could be established, and lowering interest rates for first-time homeowners to 3 percent.
TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO
The Legislative Yuan passed the NT$16 billion senior stipend program in May, which will provide a NT$3,000 monthly stipend for all citizens age 65 years and older who are not covered by other programs, retroactive to Jan. 1.
Bowing to public pressure, the legislature passed another piece of legislation to lower the age requirement for Aborigines to 55 because of their shorter life expectancy.
The two pieces of legislation will affect 440,000 people, including 11,700 aborigines at an additional cost of NT$400 million.
Unsatisfied with the results, the TSU has proposed expanding the program to cover those who already receive a pension from the labor insurance program.
Yu suggested for the first time on Aug. 24 that the Executive Yuan may allow retired workers covered by labor insurance to collect the elderly stipends.
In a bid to raise the NT$4 billion that adding another 110,000 retirees to the program would cost the government, the Cabinet proposed on Aug. 26 raising the threshold for eligibility for the stipend.
The proposal, however, was rebuffed by Chen, who also serves as the DPP chairman, during the party's weekly Central Standing Committee meeting on Aug. 27.
Chen asked the government to continue to take care of the needs of the elderly -- including retired, low- and medium-income and physically challenged workers -- without endangering the welfare benefits they already enjoy.
Because the government is experiencing financial difficulties, it will be a difficult mission for Yu to accomplish.
Defending criticism that the party has meddled in the Cabinet's business, Yu said the president had consulted him about the matter before the party's decision was made.
Determined to find other financial resources to fund the extension of the scheme, Yu announced on Aug. 29 that the government will draw NT$4 billion from lotto profits.
With the permission of the fund's supervisory board, which is staffed mainly by government officials, Yu said that the added spending shouldn't crowd out the national pension program, upon the launch of which senior stipends, transitional in nature, will be abolished.
Lottery rules stipulate that 50 percent of the lotto profits go to local governments for assorted welfare outlays, 45 percent go to the proposed national pension fund and the remaining 5 percent go to the national health insurance program.
Critics have argued that it might cost the government more than NT$4 billion when the legislature reviews the TSU's proposal, because it might want to include more disadvantaged groups in the program.
They also expressed concerns over the income of the lotto profits, which is estimated to reach NT$12 billion by the end of the year.
What does the government plan to do if the income does not turn out as anticipated?
Another example is the Ta Shee meeting (
On Aug. 25, Chen invited policymakers from the National Security Council, the Cabinet and the DPP headquarters to draw up strategies to help the government cope with the development of international relations.
Three days after the high-profile meeting, Yu asked related Cabinet departments to start drawing up plans to help bring the meeting's 10 conclusions to fruition.
"It was an important meeting called at a critical time," Yu said.
Five days after the Ta Shee meeting, Yu called a meeting in the Executive Yuan to discuss the "go south" investment policy, rekindled by Chen to accelerate Taiwan's business, trade and investment activities in Southeast Asian countries.
Yu decided to have the government's economic and diplomatic departments team up together to help expedite the "go south" policy and the signing of free trade agreements with the nation's trade allies.
The government will offer appropriate assistance, such as government-to-government negotiations, loans or financial aid, to local businesses after careful analysis on the investment environment in various countries.
"The bottom-line is that we'll respect the free market principle," Yu said.
As for the official name to sign any free trade agreement, Yu said the first priority is the "Republic of China," followed by "Taiwan" and the name used to join the WTO -- "the separate customs territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu."
The Ministry of Finance also announced on Friday that it plans to expand the financial rehabilitation fund from NT$140 billion to NT$1.05 trillion, pending the Cabinet's approval.
Seeking to remain low-key in the intricate triangular relationship among him, Chen and Vice President Annette Lu (
"The interaction between us has been great," Yu has said, refusing to elaborate more on the subject.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Taiwan is to have nine extended holidays next year, led by a nine-day Lunar New Year break, the Cabinet announced yesterday. The nine-day Lunar New Year holiday next year matches the length of this year’s holiday, which featured six extended holidays. The increase in extended holidays is due to the Act on the Implementation of Commemorative and Festival Holidays (紀念日及節日實施條例), which was passed early last month with support from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party. Under the new act, the day before Lunar New Year’s Eve is also a national holiday, and Labor Day would no longer be limited
COMMITMENTS: The company had a relatively low renewable ratio at 56 percent and did not have any goal to achieve 100 percent renewable energy, the report said Pegatron Corp ranked the lowest among five major final assembly suppliers in progressing toward Apple Inc’s commitment to be 100 percent carbon neutral by 2030, a Greenpeace East Asia report said yesterday. While Apple has set the goal of using 100 percent renewable energy across its entire business, supply chain and product lifecycle by 2030, carbon emissions from electronics manufacturing are rising globally due to increased energy consumption, it said. Given that carbon emissions from its supply chain accounted for more than half of its total emissions last year, Greenpeace East Asia evaluated the green transition performance of Apple’s five largest final
The first tropical storm of the year in the western North Pacific, Wutip (蝴蝶), has formed over the South China Sea and is expected to move toward Hainan Island off southern China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. The agency said a tropical depression over waters near the Paracel and Zhongsha islands strengthened into a tropical storm this morning. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 64.8kph, with peak gusts reaching 90kph, it said. Winds at Beaufort scale level 7 — ranging from 50kph to 61.5kph — extended up to 80km from the center, it added. Forecaster Kuan Hsin-ping
RSS