Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers yesterday expressed optimism over the inauguration of a new Cabinet headed by Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁), while opposition lawmakers outlined the challenges facing it.
The DPP caucus said it hoped that Chen’s Cabinet would unite Taiwanese, take care of the masses, and win the trust of the public and the international community.
“Chen is genteel and down to earth. I believe that he will meet public expectations in pushing reforms,” DPP caucus secretary-general Wu Chi-ming (吳琪銘) said.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
DPP caucus deputy secretary-general Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said that the geopolitical changes in the Taiwan Strait and the international community call for Chen to be grounded and to adopt a “new mindset.”
Hung praised the composition of the new Cabinet, with the addition of more female ministers and officials to represent the public.
He added that he hoped Chen’s team would be caring, thoughtful and create new opportunities for the nation.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus called on Chen to propose tangible policies to address four key issues: a slowing economy, low wages, the Labor Insurance System’s deficit and energy problems.
It would not matter how the Chen Cabinet styles itself if it could not resolve these issues, which affect everyone in the country, KMT caucus convener William Tseng (曾銘宗) said.
Chen’s Cabinet should have policies addressing a worsening economic situation, with GDP forecast to grow only 2.28 percent and the unemployment rate projected to reach 3.79 percent this year, he said.
KMT Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰) said that as the head of pension reforms in 2017, Chen had suggested that the annual increase in the labor insurance premium be capped at 0.5 percent from 2018 to this year, when the Labor Insurance Fund and the Labor Pension Fund are to be merged.
Chen also suggested at the time that if by this year, the government did not come up with a better plan, the annual premium should be increased by 1 percent, Fai said, adding that he would ask Chen about his plans for the insurance system as his previous statements were already six years old.
KMT caucus deputy secretary-general Hsieh Yi-feng (謝衣鳳) said that despite President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) promise in 2017 that the government would address the issue of low wages among young workers, Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics figures showed that 59 percent of the nation’s 9.14 million workers earned less than NT$40,000 per month last year.
KMT caucus secretary-general Lee Te-wei (李德維) said that he would ask Chen, who supports abolishing nuclear power, about the government’s energy policy, especially as the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant’s second reactor is to be shut down in March, while the Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant’s first reactor is to be retired next year.
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
BETTER SERVICE QUALITY: From Nov. 10, tickets with reserved seats would only be valid for the date, train and route specified on the ticket, THSRC said Starting on Nov. 10, high-speed rail passengers with reserved seats would be required to exchange their tickets to board an earlier train. Passengers with reserved seats on a specific train are currently allowed to board earlier trains on the same day and sit in non-reserved cars, but as this is happening increasingly often, and affecting quality of travel and ticket sales, Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (THSRC) announced that it would be canceling the policy on Nov. 10. It is one of several new measures launched by THSRC chairman Shih Che (史哲) to improve the quality of service, it said. The company also said
A magnitude 6 earthquake last night at 9:11pm struck off northeastern Yilan County, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The earthquake’s epicenter was located in waters between Toucheng Township (頭城) and Turtle Island (Gueishan Island, 龜山島), about 22.1km northeast of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 112km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Yilan’s Dongshan (冬山) and Nanao (南澳) townships and Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義), where it measured 4 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. It measured 3 in other areas of Yilan and Taipei, as
RSS