Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) yesterday presented an Executive Yuan report on the results of policies of the Democratic Progressive Party administration, touting successes in cleaning up corruption, and improving ethics, financial management, economic development and welfare programs.
“Campaigning has begun for the presidential and legislative elections early next year,” Chen said. “Candidates representing political parties are sparring over various issues. This is the mark of freedom and democracy in Taiwan.”
“However, in the past few days, people have seen inaccurate information aimed at misleading the public, intending to discredit government policies and negate the many good results achieved by diligent efforts from people working together,” he said.
Photo: Liao Chen-hui, Taipei Times
Each ministry should make a comprehensive and accurate assessment of their achievements to share with the public to reiterate the importance of openness and transparency, he said.
The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and other ministries scored well for transparency, anti-corruption and ethics in the National Integrity Awards organized by the Ministry of Justice’s Agency Against Corruption, Chen said.
“Quite a few local governments received awards this year,” Chen said, adding that an evaluation by Transparency International last year put Taiwan 25th on its Corruption Perception Index alongside advanced democracies in Europe, North America, and only surpassed in Asia by Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong.
The World Competitiveness Ranking compiled by Lausanne, Switzerland-based IMD Business School for the past three years has consistently ranked Taiwan high for economic development, the premier said.
“Taiwan has done well in the past few years and we are making steady improvements in such international rankings,” Chen said.
“However, when election campaigning starts, people start making irresponsible comments and sharing false reports to attack government policies,” he said.
The Cabinet’s Six Core Strategic Industries program, launched in 2020, includes the information and digital industries, cybersecurity, precision healthcare, green and renewable energy, national defense and strategic stockpile industries, Chen said.
It also initiated the 5+2 Innovative Industries Program to bring about balanced regional development and create more job opportunities, with the focus on the Internet of Things, biomedical, green energy, smart machinery and defense industries, as well as high-value agriculture and the circular economy, he said.
“Economic growth has been good since 2016,” he said. “Taiwan even achieved a new high of 6.53 percent GDP growth in 2021, when the world was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The minimum wage has been increased each year for eight consecutive years from NT$20,008 in 2016 to NT$27,470 last year, while the minimum hourly age rose from NT$120 to NT$183 over the same period, he said.
“Our government has pushed for housing justice, with the Cabinet ordering 95,000 units of public housing to be built by the end of this year, along with programs to increase fair pricing for leasing and renting,” he said.
Moreover, a rent subsidy program has approved 60,000 applications and is expected to reach 500,000 by the end of this year, which would help ease housing costs, he added.
Separately, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Charles Chen (陳以信) castigated the government’s economic performance.
“Our party gives the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government’s economic performance a fail. It could not fix the issue of low wages faced by young people, with university graduates having virtually the same salary as a high-school graduate,” he said.
The consumer price index has been high, which does not affect wealthy people much, but significantly impacts poor people, he said.
“The disparity between rich and poor people is at an all-time high in Taiwan, and no concrete policies have been proposed to address the situation,” Charles Chen said.
“The DPP administration has only made the lower classes more permanent, while rich people get richer,” he said, adding that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) must apologize.
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