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He said that Chair Su has also requested the DPPs Legislative Caucus to push for Taiwanese people to be able to have legal assistance and the right to meet with Taiwanese officials if faced with detention and imprisonment in China. Mr. Hong added that Chair Su has appealed President Mas administration to ensure national and political security when establishing cross strait offices as well as conduct appraisals on the impact that this would bring to society and to Taiwans economy.
APRIL 2013 He said Chair Su has also urged President Ma to discuss with the public and with opposition parties and allow for the legislative branch to do its job in supervising the process. He lastly added that it is important to respect the principles of: not signing for the sake of signing, not rushing to a deadline and not let ourselves be mistreated, pursuing to the utmost the interests of the Taiwanese people.
APRIL 2013
KMT must do the right thing in ensuring nuclear safety for Taiwan
On April 12, while discussing the DPPs proposal to change the agenda of the Legislative Yuans general assembly to completely halt construction on the Fourth Nuclear Plant, DPP Chair Su Tsengchang said that the DPP is not only answering to This is the world and Taiwan coming to an awareness, he said. Chair Su further demanded that the Ma government show the same awareness and do the right
the worlds trends and the wishes of the Taiwanese people, but it is also following the interpretations of the constitution. He appealed to the KMT to let its legislators join and fulfill the peoples expectations so that society will see who is representing the people. Chair Su added that nuclear disasters such as those that occurred in Three-Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima, have made it evident that even the most advanced technology cannot guarantee nuclear safety. He said that just the opposite, nuclear disasters have grown in magnitude and is drawing closer to home. While Taiwan finds the Fukushima Accident particularly disturbing, other countries have also tended toward stopping the construction of nuclear power plants and the use of nuclear power, he said.
thing. According to Chair Su, he said the since the general public is clearly against the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, the government should quickly turn to focus on the economic issues. He cited the DPPs 345 proposal, an economic goal, whose target average income growth rate is above three percent, the unemployment rate below four percent, and the economic growth rate above 5 percent. He also pointed out dire issues such as national pension reforms and education reforms, among others. He said reforms on the economy and many systems require immediate collaboration between ruling and opposition parties. Hence, the DPP appeals the KMT government to allow its legislators to speak out for the people instead of continuing to
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APRIL 2013
Taiwans Ministry of Education announces raising tuition fees, DPP opposes increasing debt burden on youth
to organize a youth training camp in Taiwan this coming July. As the Ministry of Education announced a regular adjustment for regular college tuition and fees, implementing an increase of as much as six percent, the DPPs Department of Youth Development (Youth Department) declared catastrophic what the ministry deems as an instant relief to an overwhelmed higher education system. Youth Department Director, Mr. Chang Chichang, said in a press conference on April 9 that recent surveys about student loans indicate that most student loan applicants come from lowincome families, with many even earning below a monthly income of NT$30,000. The total national sum of student loans has reached an all-time high of approximately NTD30 billion, he reported. Mr. Chang pointed out that the current level of tuition and fees has already forced young students to live with the burden of carrying debt at an early age, and increasing this new increase would increase student worries and create more social problems. He criticized what the ministry calls Helping the Disadvantaged Program has become in reality forcing low-income students to fall into a vicious cycle. At the press conference, Mr. Chou You-shiu, Youth Departments Deputy Director, also cited statistics announced by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics of the Executive Yuan, showing that this February, there was a national unemployment rate of 4.24 percent and a still higher 12.99 percent among youth. The most current survey of the salary ranges of young people by the Council of Labor Affairs also shows that the average pay of the age group between 15 to 29 years-old was in the whereabouts of NTD$27,425, the lowest figures in the past seven years, Mr. Chou
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said. Even worse is that as many as 64 percent of young people, more than 1 million, are paid under 30,000 every month. Mr. Chou said the Ma government is responsible for adding worries to young people by high tuition fees and loans while they also face high unemployment and low income after they graduate. He said it is not sensible to use economic growth as a reason to raise tuition because this cannot be translated to better lives for the general public. The Ministry of Education has organized a specialized committee of 20 members to tackle the tuition issue, with only two student representatives involved, and this structure lacks a fair balance according to Mr. Chang. He further noted that the ministry has decided the implementation program without taking into account the students suggestions, making the committee exactly as the students have labeled as a mere formality. Since education is the hope for the underprivileged, implementing high tuition as a quick fix to higher education issues does not assist them in gaining better opportunities ahead, he said. On behalf of the youth, the DPP appealed the current government to engage in an open discussion between the Ministry of Education and students as well as parents in order to have a transparent decision-making process.
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