China is under immense pressure due to a slowing economy, government corruption and public discontent, which, combined with a high unemployment rate, have given rise to increasing pessimism of young people, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report yesterday.
The report, submitted to the Legislative Yuan, offers an insight into the economic situation of China, which is engaged in a tit-for-tat tariff war with the US.
The World Bank, the IMF and other international institutions have downgraded their economic growth forecasts for China to between 4 and 4.6 percent, lower than the Chinese government’s official target of 5 percent, the report said.
Photo: AFP
The Chinese economy is grappling with surplus production, the risk of deflation, and slowing investment and consumption, the institutions said.
Workers face either reduced wages or are not paid at all, with the problem expanding from farmers and industrial workers to public servants, medical personnel and financial personnel, the report said.
At least 75 percent of the approximately 3,000 civic protests last year were due to public perception that their economic rights have been infringed upon, it said.
In addition, high unemployment rates have led to increasing pessimism among the younger generation, many of whom opt to put minimum efforts into their work and avoid overachieving, the report said.
Young Chinese are seeking other means to let off steam, such as donning costumes at Halloween parties that are critical of politics and the times, increasing socioeconomic risks, the report said.
Local governments in China, affected by the overall economic slump, are resorting to arresting private enterprise owners, freezing or confiscating the assets of corporations beyond their juridisctions to generate income, thereby eroding public trust in the government and affecting businesses’ inclination to invest, it said.
While Beijing’s investigations of 890,000 public officials, including 73 provincial-level officials, suspected of corruption mark a historic high since Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) took office, the crackdown has unnerved public officials, who are reluctant to perform duties beyond the bare minimum, resulting in reduced administrative efficiency, the report said.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS