|
¡@
Jobs, wealth distribution are
priorities: forum
STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Sunday, May 09, 2010, Page 3
¡@
People¡¦s Sovereignty Movement activists on a
49-day protest walk to push for referendums on cross-strait agreements arrive in
Taichung City yesterday, wearing carnations to show their love for Taiwan.
PHOTO: LIAO YAO-TUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Job creation, wealth distribution and upgrading industry, rather than an endless
pursuit of GDP growth, should be the focus of Taiwan¡¦s future economic policy,
academics said at a symposium yesterday.
The panel of academics, most of whom served as Cabinet officials in the previous
administration, warned against over-reliance on China to prop up the Taiwanese
economy.
¡§Economic growth should not be the only national goal,¡¨ said Tsai Ing-wen (½²^¤å),
chairperson of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which organized the
symposium on new economic development strategies in an era of globalization.
¡§The era of government allocating a large part of its resources to the support
of the corporate sector in the hope of creating a better environment for the
national workforce has long gone because corporates can now relocate overseas in
a heartbeat,¡¨ she said.
While the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government is seeking closer economic
relations with China on grounds that is a preliminary step to economic
integration with the rest of the world, most of the working class in Taiwan is
suffering as a result of wage stagnation and shrinking job opportunities, Tsai
said.
Chen Po-chih (³¯³Õ§Ó), an economist who serves as chairman of Taiwan Thinktank,
supported this view and said the government tends to see management as the
driving force for high GDP growth and it ignores the needs of ordinary people.
¡§It is management that has been reaping the benefits from the process of
globalization while workers are suffering,¡¨ Chen said, adding that Taiwan can no
longer gain a competitive edge by means of cheap labor.
Rising unemployment and lower wages are two of the biggest economic issues in
Taiwan, said Liu Chin-hsin (¼B¶i¿³), a professor at National Taiwan University of
Science and Technology. Liu urged the government to place job creation and the
protection of traditional industries ¡X especially the manufacturing sector ¡X
high on its economic agenda.
Taiwan should develop an innovation-based economy, support industry upgrade and
restructuring and address the issue of wealth distribution so that it can
improve its competitiveness and the well-being of its people, he said.
The triangular economic relationship between Taiwan, China and Western
developed countries is a conflict of personal interests and macro-interests,
which puts Taiwan in a no-win situation, said professor Shih Jun-ji, a former
chairman of the Financial Supervisory Commission.
Instead of reaching out to the global market by way of China, Shih said, Taiwan
should increase its national competitiveness and explore European and US markets
on its own.
The DPP said the wide-ranging discussions at the symposium would be
incorporated into its ¡§10-year policy guidelines¡¨ which are scheduled to be
announced in August.
¡@
|
