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2012 ELECTIONS: Tsai
Ing-wen calls for ‘Rural Renaissance’ in Taiwan
By Chris Wang / Staff Reporter, in Hsinchu County
Democratic Progressive Party
legislative candidate Chen Chin-ting, front right, yesterday hauls out an
“invincible” giant piggy bank in Changhua Couty that he made as part of the
party’s campaign for the Jan. 14 presidential and legislative elections.
Photo: CNA
A new “Rural Renaissance” movement, which
symbolizes the awaking of Taiwanese to a new life philosophy, has been taking
shape and the government should take a leading role in making the renaissance
happen, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said
yesterday.
More people have decided to move away from the cities, either returning to their
rural hometown or choosing to live in the countryside, the DPP’s presidential
candidate said at campaign stop in the remote township of Nanjhuang (南庄), Miaoli
County.
“These people work in all professions — farmers, artists, computer programmers,
coffee shop owners, writers — and bring different dimensions that will be able
to change the dynamics of development in Taiwan’s rural areas, which is why I
called it a ‘Rural Renaissance,’” she said.
The “dream chasers” were far more intelligent than the government, she said,
because they started to develop land and areas that had been “abandoned and
forgotten” by the government and turned them into creative businesses or
relaxing getaway sites.
If she were elected president, her administration would keep the Rural
Renaissance alive and flourishing, Tsai said.
The government should launch a rural land reform that includes three elements —
a complete review of land use across the nation, a comprehensive plan for
national rural land use and a proactive effort to help people resolve current
controversial land use cases.
Speaking at a coffee shop established by a career woman who returned to
Nanjhuang after spending many years in Taipei, Tsai said “a new wave of
awakening of humanity was taking shape in many of the places I have visited —
Meinung (美濃) in Greater Kaohsiung, Sinshe (新社) in Greater Taichung and the
northeastern coast — on my campaign trips.”
What these people have been working on would enrich the local culture and
traditions as well as boosting local economy, she said, and the government
should relax outdated regulations to “let them blossom, and not get in their
way.”
One key problem confronting the government is that it has placed strict
limitations on the use of “non-urban lands,” but has only divided land into two
types — urban and non-urban, she said.
A successful land reform effort would benefit agricultural development and boost
local economies at the same time, Tsai said, noting that those are two areas her
presidential platform has emphasized.
During an earlier visit to Dahu (大湖) in Miaoli County, which is known for its
strawberry crops, Tsai reiterated that focusing on the local economy was the
right direction for Taiwan because developing local economies would increase job
opportunities and incomes.
Tsai, who aims to establish a “new agriculture” based on precision and
technology, proposed the establishment of a NT$100 billion (US$3.32 billion)
agricultural development fund, a tracking system for all agricultural products
and a marketplace platform to ensure fair prices for agricultural products.
Her agricultural policy also focuses on the domestic market by encouraging
“local production and local consumption.”
Tsai is scheduled to conclude her four-day trip to Hakka areas in Miaoli,
Hsinchu and Taiyuan today.
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