Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday said he could not promise that the government would be able to achieve President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) “6-3-3” campaign pledge by 2016 if Ma is re-elected next year.
Wu, Ma’s running mate in the Jan. 14 presidential election, made the remarks in a political TV show when he was asked about the administration’s failure to realize its “6-3-3” policy — an annual economic growth rate of 6 percent, annual per capita income of US$30,000 and an unemployment rate of less than 3 percent per year — which Ma promised during his 2008 presidential campaign.
Since Ma took office, the average economic growth rate was 3.6 percent, per capita income was less than US$20,000 and the average unemployment rate was more than 5 percent, said Chen Kao-chao (陳高超), a guest in the show.
Wu countered that it was “clearly written” in Ma’s 2008 platform that the “6-3-3” goal was a target he aimed to attain by 2016.
Some people had misinterpreted the policy as a pledge that Ma aimed to achieve during his four-year-term, Wu said.
When asked by show host Hsieh Zhen-wu (謝震武) whether he could promise the government would be able to realize the “6-3-3” policy by 2016 if Ma was reelected, Wu said: “I can’t guarantee that we will have a smooth sailing if President Ma wins a second term.”
“No one [when] at senior high school can say for certain he will enter [a specific] college. There will be unexpected factors, like the global financial turmoil,” Wu said.
On the sidelines of the show, Wu told the media he was required to take leave from his position one month before the election and he would “abide by the regulation.”
Taking a leave from Dec. 14 would coincide with the day the legislature goes into recess and two weeks earlier than the statutory date of Dec. 31 to close the fall session for the eighth legislative election, he said.
“That way, I can make sure the budget for the next fiscal year clears before I go on leave,” Wu said.
However, when asked by the Taipei Times to explain the rules, Central Election Commission Secretary-General Teng Tien-yu (鄧天祐) and Central Personnel Administration Secretary-General Chang Nien-chung (張念中) said Wu was not required to take leave because there were “no rules” on this matter.
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