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.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS