DPP slams Ma’s campaigning expenses
　

MOTORCADE MISHMASH: The Presidential Office found itself on the defensive for a second day over the actions of a presidential ‘motorcade’ on a freeway on Saturday
　

By Jenny W. hsu, Ko Shu-ling and Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REORTERS
Tuesday, Dec 01, 2009, Page 1
　

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) owes the public an apology for using government money to campaign for Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidates, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus said yesterday, accusing Ma of spending at least NT$3.71 million (US$115,000) a day campaigning.

The caucus also lambasted the presidential security detail for hogging the road by telling drivers on a freeway to clear the passing lane for a presidential motorcade heading for Taipei on Saturday — although some media outlets, including TVBS, reported yesterday that Ma was not in the motorcade at the time. There was a traffic jam on the freeway at the time because of an unrelated car accident.

Since Ma has been campaigning in his capacity as KMT chairman, all of his travel expenses should be footed by the KMT, DPP Legislator William Lai (賴清德) said.

The DPP caucus said the presidenial plane costs NT$380,000 (US$11,700) an hour to operate, which works out to NT$1.14 million for three hours. Another NT$1.2 million goes toward overtime pay for 600 National Security Bureau (NSB) agents. Miscellaneous expenses such as fuel and lunchboxes bring the total cost for a Ma campaign trip to nearly NT$4 million, the caucus said.

“Such a gesture shows that neither Ma nor his camp can empathize with the public, which is struggling with the effects of the economic downturn. We urge voters to show their disdain for this government through their ballots on Saturday,” DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said.

The KMT attacked former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) for treating the plane as his personal taxi but the KMT is doing the exact same thing, DPP Legislator Wang Hsin-nan (王幸男) said.

If Ma is not actually part of a motorcade, then it cannot be considered a presidential motorcade and therefore should not have the privileges that are extended to the president, vice president and premier, DPP spokesman Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said.

“Nobody can tolerate a president who considers himself an emperor. We are living in a democracy, which means no citizens should sacrifice their right to the road for an empty presidential vehicle,” he said.

Former DPP legislator Chuang Shuo-han (莊碩漢) said the blame lay with Ma for packing 12 events into his schedule on Saturday.

Ma began the day by flying to Kinmen to visit the KMT campaign headquarters there and appear at several rallies. From Kinmen he flew to Yunlin to campaign for his party’s candidate and attend the engagement party for a KMT supporter and other events. He then headed to Yilan for more campaign activities before going to Keelung to stump for the KMT mayoral candidate.

The DPP said Ma should get some rest because of a slew of gaffes during his campaign appearances — such as mispronouncing candidates’ names or urging voters to cast their ballot for the KMT nominee as their mayor when the candidate was seeking a county commissioner’s seat.

Meanwhile, the Presidential Office apologized for a second day for any inconvenience caused by Ma’s motorcade, but refused to comment on whether Ma was in one of the vehicles.

Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) refused to say whether Ma was in the car.

“We are not in a position, nor is it appropriate, to comment on the president’s route and whereabouts because of safety concerns,” he said. “There is a standard operating procedure in place in terms of traffic control for the president’s motorcade. It is a long-standing practice exercised by his predecessors and other foreign leaders.”

Wang asked the public for understanding.

“There is always room for improvement and we have been examining our actions and making improvements,” he said. “It is necessary and important to minimize inconvenience or grievances and we will make an effort to do so.”

Wang said Ma attached great importance to the matter and has instructed his security detail to refrain from causing too many disturbances.

Meanwhile, Minister of the Interior Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺) and National Police Agency (NPA) ­Director-General Wang Cho-chiun (王卓鈞) were grilled by lawmakers on the Internal Administration Committee yesterday about the motorcade incident.

“Do you think it’s right for police to tell cars ahead of the presidential convoy to get out of the lane using a loudspeaker because Ma is in a hurry to attend his next campaign event for KMT candidates in his capacity as KMT chairman?” William Lai asked Wang Cho-chiun.

Wang said the officers wouldn’t know if Ma was traveling as president or KMT chairman because this information would not be included in their assignment notices.

“Besides, there was no shoulder on the section of the freeway the convoy was driving on,” the NPA chief said. “But I can promise you that something like this will not happen again during the campaign.”

Lai also asked if police had overreacted and engaged in political meddling when officers closed off streets and blocked a campaign parade of DPP Hsinchu County commissioner candidate Peng Shao-chin (彭紹瑾) and tried to grab placards from Peng’s supporters when his rival, KMT candidate Chiu Ching-chun (邱鏡淳), and Ma were parading through the same area last week.

Jiang and Wang Cho-chiun both denied there had been any political intervention.

“Chiu had applied for an assembly and parade permit ahead of time while Peng did not. That is why police had to ensure the parade with a permit could proceed smoothly,” Jiang said. “I’m not saying that all campaign activities must obtain permission in advance, but the fact was that one parade had permit while the other did not.

Wang Cho-chiun, on the other hand, said that the police grabbed placards protesting US beef imports from Peng’s supporters because “they considered the signs to be a protest instead of a campaign activity, and a permit is needed for a protest, according to the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法).”

KMT Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) disagreed, saying: “Of course a candidate can make the US beef issue part of his or her campaign, it makes sense to do so.”

“The police must be more sensitive when protecting the president, especially during an election campaign,” she said.

Huang also criticized the manner in which police handled the freeway incident.

“They should have known that there was a car accident ahead, so the presidential convoy could exit the freeway before running into the traffic jam and avoid all these hassles,” she said.

The Ministry of the Interior also released numbers on candidate security and vote-buying allegations.

A total of 124 candidates have applied for police protection, and 172 officers and five bulletproof vests have been assigned to candidates.

A police crackdown between Sept. 1 and last Thursday uncovered 101 cases of vote-buying involving 701 people and 27 election-related violent crimes, with 39 people arrested in connection with the cases.

On Saturday, 6,412 officers will be dispatched to guard 6,384 polling stations, while more than 30,000 officers will be on duty as backup.

Low-income households hit new high in Q3: MOI

STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Tuesday, Dec 01, 2009, Page 1

The number of low-income households nationwide hit a record high in the third quarter, with the individual members of such households accounting for 1.08 percent of the total population, the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) said yesterday.

A ministry survey found the number of low-income households in the third quarter stood at 102,759, compared with 90,525 in the same period last year and almost double the number 10 years ago when there were only 58,310.

The figure represented 249,834 people, or 1.08 percent of the population, an increase of 32,434 people compared with last year, the ministry said. A decade ago, the number of individuals in low-income households was 136,691, it said.

Huang Pi-hsia (黃碧霞), director-general of the ministry’s Department of Social Affairs, said that the number of low-income families has been gradually increasing over the past several years.

“This trend is the result of the economic downturn and the fact that the government has relaxed the eligibility requirements to allow subsidies for more people,” she said.

The ministry has invited local governments, academics and experts to revise the Social Assistance Act (社會救助法) to reset the poverty line, set up an overall structure to help mid and low-income families, and strengthen measures to fight poverty, Huang said.

The Act defines low-income families as those whose total income divided by the number of its members is lower than the minimum cost of living.

The minimum cost of living is computed as 60 percent of the most recent annual consumption expenditure per capita announced by the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.

Su Beng: Staying true to the fight for independence
　

By Shih Hsiu-chuan
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Dec 01, 2009, Page 3
　

Wearing blue jeans and a blue shirt while making his weekly trip around the country to promote Taiwanese nationalism, Su Beng (史明) is widely revered as a man of action devoted to socialism and Taiwanese independence.

Born in 1918, Su is expected to be released from a hospital in Japan where he has been treated for uremia and kidney problems since late last month, with a group of activists planning to greet him at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on his return.

Su has been in Tokyo since late October to supervise the reopening of the New Gourmet (新珍味), a noodle shop he opened in 1954 as a way to earn a living and as a base for training staff who carried out anti-government arson attacks in Taiwan in the 1970s.

The noodle shop had since become the main source of funding for his endeavors before it closed for renovation for much of the past year.

In 1952, Su was a fugitive wanted by the Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) regime because of a plot to assassinate the dictator.

Disguising himself as a worker at Keelung Harbor, Su managed to stow away on a boat to Japan — where he attended Waseda University in the 1940s, with a degree in political science and economics — and sought political asylum.

The years spent in exile further shaped Su’s interest in socialism after seeing the masses’ frustration with communist rule in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, as well as China. He completed his classic book on the history of Taiwan, comprehensively formulating his theory of building Taiwan as an independent nation-state with an equitable distribution of wealth.

Originally named Shih Chao-hui (施朝暉), he changed his name to Su Beng — which means “historically clear” in Mandarin — to underline the importance of getting a clear understanding of history.

Taiwan’s 400 Years of History (台灣人四百年史) was first published in Japanese in 1962 and helped raise Taiwanese consciousness among his generation. The Mandarin and English versions were published in the 1980s, while the updated edition that included the period 1980-1998 came out in 1998.

Liao I-en (廖宜恩), a professor of computer science and engineering at National Chung-Hsiung University and vice chairman of the Taiwan Association of University Professors, was one of his followers.

“Since the 1980s, Su has traveled regularly between Japan and the US to lecture Taiwanese students abroad about [Taiwanese] history at his own expense. I met him nearly every summer,” Liao said.

To reach as many as students as possible at different US campuses, Su learned how to drive in his 60s and commuted frugally using an old vehicle.

“Su enlightened us on the repressed history of Taiwan and told us that the first step to establish an independent country was to shed the Chinese nationalism deeply instilled in our brains under the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] regime,” Liao said.

Su’s ideas on Taiwanese nationalism grew partly from his experience in joining the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) fight against Japanese forces in the War of the Pacific between 1942 and 1945 and the following years when he came back to Taiwan under Chiang’s rule.

Against a backdrop of a new wave of states formed on the basis of ethnicity after World War II, Su came to believe that there was a fundamental difference in national identity between Chinese and Taiwanese.

Chen Fang-ming (陳芳明), the dean of the Graduate Institute of Taiwanese Literature at National Chengchi University and a historian, said that Su’s conception of history was mainly formed by three elements: He defined KMT rule as another colonial regime; he viewed history from the perspective of class; and he created the notion of Taiwanese nationalism.

“All his analysis in this regard has passed the test of time over the past 40 years, vividly materializing in many situations right in front of our eyes,” Chen said.

The history of Taiwan was a continuous and linear development of Japanese colonization to the KMT’s re-colonization, and it was not until the first direct presidential election in 1996 that the controversy over the legitimacy of KMT rule began to fade, Chen said.

Over the years, the country has seen the emergence of Taiwanese nationalism and the calls for an equal, just society and world, as globalization has worsened inequality among and within countries, proving that Su’s thoughts have echoed down the years, Chen said.

What impressed Chen most was not only Su’s intellectual work, but that he has put his beliefs into practice in everyday life.

“He is a real leftist. Unlike many self-claimed leftists who always talk the talk but don’t walk the walk, the biggest distinction between them is that Su thinks he can carry out his beliefs and he makes every effort to make it happen,” Chen said.

For many Taiwanese independence activists, Su is well known for his generosity, as he has always provided money earned from his noodle shop to help their cause.

When he worked on Taiwan’s 400 Years of History, he cooked by day and wrote by night.

“He is a wonderful man, never thinking of himself. I visited him in the 1980s, saw him prepare a very simple breakfast for himself — rice porridge and pickles. He saved all the money he earned for the Taiwan Independence Association [TIA] and his comrades,” Chen said.

The blacklisted Su managed to get on a Taiwanese fishing boat back to Taiwan in 1993 and since then has worked tirelessly to educate people on Taiwan’s history.

He organizes TIA motorcades, making the rounds on weekends to deliver messages on Taiwanese nationalism over a megaphone. He has rewritten his book into more readable version for elementary and junior high school students, as well as writing other books on the 228 Incident, Western philosophy, democracy and other topics. He has also mobilized his taxi driver base to protest at meetings between senior KMT and CCP officials, among others.

“What Su preaches might seem quixotic to some people, but for me, he has been deadly earnest about what he wants to do. His mission means everything to him, and his life is all about accomplishing his missions,” said Nuke-4 Referendum Initiative Association chief executive Iap Phok-bun (葉博文), who helped Su establish the Su Beng Education Foundation in 2001.

Prosecutors name new defendant
　

DOMINO: Former adviser Wu Li-pei has been charged for allegedly helping then-president Chen Shui-bian launder money by using his account to send it overseas
　

By Shelley Huang
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Dec 01, 2009, Page 4

Prosecutors in charge of investigating former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) alleged money-laundering activities and secret overseas bank accounts recently named former presidential adviser Wu Li-pei (吳澧培) as a defendant in the case.

The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office’s Special Investigation Panel (SIP) yesterday said prosecutors recently named Wu as a defendant because he allegedly had a part in helping the former first family launder money.

Prosecutors allege that in February last year, former first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) wired US$1.91 million from her brother Wu ­Ching-mao’s (吳景茂) bank accounts in Singapore to Wu Li-pei’s bank accounts. Prosecutors allege the money was divided into three transactions to avoid arousing suspicion.

Prosecutors have frozen the funds in Wu Li-pei’s bank accounts until the investigation is concluded.

Other people who have recently been named as defendants for allegedly helping the former first family launder money include former China Development Financial Holding Corp president Angelo Koo (辜仲瑩), China Development Financial chief financial officer Sherie Chiu (邱德馨), former China Steel Corp chairman Lin Wen-yuan (林文淵), Yuanta Financial Holding Co president Victor Ma (馬維建), former Yuanta Securities Corp board member Tu Li-ping (杜麗萍) and chairwoman Judy Tu (杜麗莊), Wu Ching-mao and his wife Chen Chun-ying (陳俊英), as well as Chen Shui-bian’s son Chen Chih-chung (陳致中) and daughter-in-law Huang Jui-ching (黃睿靚).

In related news, prosecutors yesterday summoned former Presidential Office secretary Chen Hsin-yi (陳心怡) to question her on suspicion that she destroyed evidence related to the former president’s corruption cases. She was among the defendants who were investigated by prosecutors at the request of the Taipei District Court.

Annette Lu could have complicated shooting: Chen
　

By Ko Shu-ling
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Dec 01, 2009, Page 4

“I told her that no matter what happened, it was absolutely unlikely that you were shot before I was.”— Chen Shui-bian, former president

Former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) said in a memoir made public yesterday that former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) would have complicated the investigation into the 2004 attempt on their lives had she gone public with her theory that she was the main target.

The 12,000-word memoir, made available by Chen’s office yesterday, will appear in this week’s edition of Neo Formosa Weekly.

Chen said he believed there were two bullets, with the first one hitting the windshield and then Lu, while the second one grazed his stomach.

“I told her that no matter what happened, it was absolutely unlikely that you were shot before I was,” Chen said.

On March 19, 2004, a bullet grazed Chen’s stomach and another hit Lu’s knee as they were campaigning in Tainan. The pan-blue camp said the shooting was staged to win sympathy votes. It later became known as the “319 Incident.”

The Tainan Prosecutor’s ­Office concluded in 2005 that it was the work of Chen Yi-hsiung (陳義雄), a lone shooter who was found dead 10 days after the incident.

Lu later published a book, Putting 319 in Perspective: One Truth, One Taiwan, in which she said she doubted that Chen Yi-hsiung was the lone shooter and suggested that people betting on the results of the election could have backed the assassination attempt. Other possible culprits behind the incident were China, the pan-blue or even the pan-green camp, she said.

Chen said in his memoir that after Lu was hit, she told her good friend turned ­political commentator, Yang Hsien-hung (楊憲宏), that she had taken a bullet for the president and the people of Taiwan. She even telephoned then-Presidential Office secretary-general Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) and asked him to back her story, Chen said.

“Luckily, Chiou did not make such an announcement, or the result of the subsequent investigation would have been different,” he said. “It would have complicated the matter for no reason.”

He said he was surprised and upset when he learned that all his campaign activities were canceled after he was shot. However, he gave in because his wife strongly opposed any more campaigning, he said.

Chen said his election rival, ­Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Lien Chan (連戰), was waiting at the presidential residence to see him, while Lien’s running mate, James Soong (宋楚瑜), was on his way to see Lu.

Chen said he turned Lien away because former Democratic Progressive Party chairman Lin I-­hsiung (林義雄) was with him at the time.

Lu issued a statement yesterday rebutting Chen’s description of events.

Lies, obfuscation and hypocrites

Tuesday, Dec 01, 2009, Page 8

Responding to a recent article by Kyodo News Agency titled “When Taiwan-Japan relations run afoul, there’s always Hatta Yoichi,” the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Tokyo last week once again highlighted the government’s tendency to obfuscate and its refusal to acknowledge public apprehension about its policies.

The office called a passage in the report “groundless” that read “while Ma has wooed China, restarted formal negotiations across the Taiwan Strait and signed trade agreements with Beijing, Taipei’s relations with Tokyo have mostly stagnated.” Yet the office did not meet the allegations directly, choosing instead to rehash the old platitudes of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) — no unification, no independence and no use of force — while adding that the ongoing negotiations with China are “based not on political but rather economic objectives.”

The response defies reality. If, as the office claims, Ma’s administration “wishes to enhance its substantial relationship with Japan,” then how do we explain a series of unnecessary and avoidable political spats since Ma took office?

Soon after Ma became president in May last year, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recalled its envoy to Japan over a maritime incident near the Diaoyutai (釣魚台) involving Japanese and Taiwanese vessels. Less than a year later, it was raising a storm over perfectly acceptable comments by Japanese envoy Masaki Saito to the effect that Taiwan’s status remains “unresolved.” The Ma administration played the hurt party and refused to meet Saito for months.

If Taipei wanted to enhance relations with Tokyo, it would have handled those minor matters differently.

Meanwhile, Beijing continues to threaten Taiwan by deploying more missiles across the Strait, and Chinese academics and generals speak of war on visits to Taiwan — a rejection of the nation’s status far worse than Saito’s comments. Yet Ma says nothing. No Chinese officials are barred from coming; in fact, more are welcome.

If questioning Taiwan’s status were an offense in Ma’s eyes, then not a single academic or Chinese official would be allowed on this side of the Strait.

It is also evident that the objectives of ongoing negotiations with Beijing are, despite what the office says, not solely economic. Time and again, the top leadership in Beijing has said that economic integration is part of its plan to annex Taiwan. That the financial agreements are a Trojan Horse cannot be wished away.

This is not the first time a government agency defends its policies in such a matter. The Ministry of Justice has responded to open letters concerning the erosion of rights and liberties in Taiwan and the trial of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁). Like the Tokyo office’s letter, the ministry’s replies engaged in avoidance while encouraging the illusion that the Ma administration is beyond reproach.

The truth, as Kyodo highlighted in its article, is that the Ma administration has neglected Japan at the expense of better relations with China, and that it is putting Taiwan’s sovereignty at risk by ignoring the political ramifications of “economic” deals. Unless the government provides clear, direct answers to those allegations, we will continue to treat its indignant responses as mere propaganda.

The aggression in China’s goodwill
　

By Lu I-Ming 呂一銘
Tuesday, Dec 01, 2009, Page 8

Late Chinese leader Mao Zedong’s (毛澤東) slogan “political power grows out of the barrel of a gun” remains the doctrine of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). To consolidate its one-party authoritarian rule, the CCP general-secretary serves concurrently as chairman of the Central Military Commission, keeping the party firmly in charge of the military and the government.

Chinese Major General Luo Yuan (羅援) is a researcher at the People’s Liberation Army Academy of Military Sciences. Speaking in Beijing recently, Luo publicly criticized President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) “three noes” policy as one of “peaceful separation.”

Such criticism was rather intriguing. Especially coming at a time when speculation is rife about changes in Taiwan-US relations after the meeting between Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and US President Barack Obama. Luo’s implied support for promoting unification through the threat of war is brazen.

At a cross-strait seminar titled “60 Years Across the Taiwan Strait” on Nov. 13 and Nov. 14 in Taipei, former CCP Central Party School vice president Zheng Bijian (鄭必堅) and other Chinese academics spoke hawkishly of “peaceful unification” and “one country, two systems.”

Only after the public reacted negatively did they change their tone, adding that what they had said did not necessarily represent Hu’s opinion or intentions. Zheng said he was only expressing his personal view.

Yet knowing the nature of the CCP, who would believe their denials? CCP hawks and doves may propose different means, but they have the same goal: forcing Taiwan to accept unification as soon as possible.

Military hawks, eager to rattle their sabers, want to grab the bull by the horns. As Luo says, if China wants to punish Taiwanese independence through military means, it has to prepare for war. But this approach would inevitably cause fresh problems in the Taiwan Strait and could be unfavorable to cross-strait negotiations and exchanges.

An article I wrote titled “Beijing sees Ma as supporting an independent Taiwan” said that the Young Turks of China’s military believe that Ma’s policies are “a needle wrapped in cotton.” This, because Ma may be able to win greater support from the international community by promoting an “independent Taiwan” rather than “Taiwan independence.”

Ma’s “three noes” policy — “no unification, no independence, no war” — are seen as the key elements of the so-called “independent Taiwan” course.

Those who subscribe to this view of Ma define “independent Taiwan” according to three criteria. First, shared sovereignty, which means that the governments on either side of the Taiwan Strait enjoy separate diplomatic space that does not overlap. Second, coexistence of entities, which means that each side has their own administrative jurisdictions, neither of which is subordinate to the other. Third is maintenance of the “status quo,” “mutual non-denial” and “one China, two interpretations,” under which Taipei says that there is “one China,” but that this “one China” is the Republic of China (ROC). Under such a framework, unification is just an option, not inevitable.

The “independent Taiwan” course came into existence based on the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) perceived interests at the time. It was also substantially influenced by the US’ Asia strategy and China policies. Clearly there are widely divergent views in China regarding Hu’s remarks in a six-point statement he made on New Year’s Eve that “everything is open to discussion.”

Today’s world is a global village. After last year’s financial crisis, countries need to work together to resolve their difficulties. Their priorities are to fix the economy and ensure people’s livelihoods. If any country starts a war against this backdrop, all nations and people stand to suffer.

If China were to do so, it would be universally condemned. In other words, for China to pursue unification by force is outdated and childish.

As former US deputy secretary of state Susan Shirk says, China’s leaders are aware that the vitality of Taiwan’s democracy is a result of its different social system and values. No single political party in Taiwan can decide everything. Rather, voters have the final say. Anyone who overlooks this fact will turn people in Taiwan against them. Such an attitude makes the two sides more suspicious of one another and can only make it more difficult to discuss a peaceful cross-strait framework.

Hu has said that he does not want to impose his will on the other side. Trying to understand each other and showing goodwill is much more profound and effective than trying to dominate the other side through military strength. Such a progressive approach is the only way forward, and the only way to ensure peace for future generations.

Lu I-ming is the former publisher and president of Taiwan Shin Sheng Daily News.

Fighting the jobless rate must be a top priority
　

By Hong Chi-chang 洪奇昌
Tuesday, Dec 01, 2009, Page 8

In response to concerns over conflicting government reports on the risks of an economic pact with China, a high-level government official on cross-strait affairs said at a seminar: “Don’t take these figures [estimated jobless rates] too seriously. They’re just academic studies.”

Unemployment hit a record high of 6.14 percent in August. The latest figures from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) indicate that unemployment in the first 10 months of the year averaged 5.86 percent — the highest among the four “Asian Tigers” and higher than Japan.

“Broad unemployment,” which includes those who are seeking jobs and those who want work but are not looking, hit 7.37 percent. The jobless population totaled 1.37 million.

It is difficult for college graduates to find a job fresh out of school, while a majority of the unemployed had jobs but were laid off. Layoffs are largely hitting the main breadwinners of families.

Traditional wisdom has it that the higher your degree, the easier it will be to find a job. In reality, the majority of unemployed today are those with higher education. Meanwhile, losing your job today can mean being jobless for a long time or even losing all chance of returning to the job market. The result is that one-time breadwinners are struggling to support their families and losing hope.

Investment encourages employment, which in turn generates consumption and stimulates supply and demand, finally leading to more investment. It is therefore clear — considering the state of private investment, consumption levels and the average growth of salaries — that high unemployment is has the potential to become a vicious cycle.

DGBAS figures show that domestic investment this year has contracted 17.8 percent year-on-year, following a drop of 10.6 percent the previous year, meaning double-digit contractions for two consecutive years.

Private investment in particular saw its second year of double-digit decline, shrinking 13.28 percent this year and 27.43 percent the previous year. And the subdued economic growth has taken its toll on wages, causing salaries to stagnate.

Salaries grew an average of more than 10 percent before 1992. Since the IT bubble burst in 2001, everything has stagnated — except, that is, the price of daily commodities.

In the first eight months of this year, the average monthly salary shrank 6.4 percent to NT$43,300 compared with the same period last year. That was a return to 2004 levels.

The combination of stagnating or even declining salaries and the pressure of housing mortgages has had an impact on consumption.

Private consumption is the major component of GDP in terms of expenditure and has always played a significant role in the nation’s steady economic growth. Between 1988 and 1997, private consumption grew about 12.4 percent on average each year. This figure shrank to 4.2 percent between 1998 and 2004. Between 2005 and this year, the figure is forecast to drop to only 2.2 percent. Worse yet, private consumption has contracted 1.21 percent year-on-year this year for the first time since records started.

Unemployment is a concern that is as important as national security. The government should make solving this problem its top objective. High unemployment brings with it a host of social problems with costly and long-term repercussions. The government must tackle the root of unemployment and offer smart initiatives for established and emerging industries alike.

Hong Chi-chang is a former chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation and a former Democratic Progressive Party legislator.