The Cabinet has achieved two of the three goals for the economy set by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) — reducing unemployment and boosting economic growth — officials said yesterday.
However, Chen did not deliver on his vow, made in 2004, to raise overall expenditure on research and development-related sectors to more than 3 percent of GDP within three years, the officials said.
Council for Economic Planning and Development Chairwoman Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥) and Deputy Minister of National Science Council Wu Tsung-tsong (吳政忠) presented reports on the government’s performance over the past eight years at the Cabinet meeting yesterday.
Wu said overall expenditure on research and development-related sectors went up from 1.98 percent in 1999 to 2.58 percent in 2006.
“Although the government increased budgets earmarked for technology development each year, the growth rate was limited by the legislature. The proposed budget was cut by 8.7 percent in 2005 and another 7.9 percent in 2006,” Wu told a press conference following the meeting.
While seeking re-election in 2004, Chen vowed to expand the technology budget, to cut unemployment to below 4 percent within two years and to boost economic growth to above 5 percent in a year.
“The government’s pursuit of economic revitalization through a series of economic measures produced concrete results. The country has achieved stable economic growth. We saw a significant increase in private investment and a record high in foreign investment,” Chang said.
Chang said 909,000 jobs were created since the Democratic Progressive Party came to power in 2000. For its part, unemployment went down to 3.9 percent, a record low in the past seven years.
Of the jobs created, 665,000 were filled by women, bringing the labor force participation rate to 49.4 percent, a record high, Chang said.
The country’s average economic growth for the past seven years was 4.1 percent, with an average of 5.23 percent in the last four years — higher than South Korea’s 4.7 percent, Chang said.
Twenty-nine multinationals set up 36 research and development centers since 2002, with investment in Taiwan up to NT$33 billion (US$1.08 billion), Chang said.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS