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2012 ELECTIONS: Tsai
pledges to upgrade ICT on a par with Seoul
TV PLANS: The presidential candidates will take
part in the first of three televised platform presentations today and Tsai knows
just what she wants to discuss
By Chris Wang / Staff Reporter
Democratic Progressive Party
presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen, right, smiles after saying that cheap and
fast broadband Internet services are a basic human right and pledging to improve
information and communication technology infrastructure by 2016 at a meeting
with industry leaders in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday said cheap and fast
broadband Internet services were now considered basic human rights and she
pledged to improve information and communications technology (ICT)
infrastructure to catch up with South Korea by 2016.
In a meeting with leaders of the ICT sector, Tsai unveiled her policies for the
industry with an emphasis on broadband Internet service, which she said should
be the foundation for all industries as well as people’s lives.
Citing statistics by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development,
Tsai said the average download speed in Taiwan was 20 times slower than that of
South Korea, which is unacceptable for a country with advanced ICT development
such as Taiwan.
The administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who is seeking re-election,
has not done enough to develop the sector as Ma’s 12 i-Taiwan Projects only
managed to provide any resident who has a mobile number 512 kilobits per second
of free bandwidth, she said.
If she were elected next month, Tsai said, her administration would build up
infrastructure for broadband services and lower Internet fees so broadband
speeds would catch up to South Korea’s by 2016.
She would not stop there, she added, as the government should also think ahead
and engage in the establishment of an optical-fiber network and 4G mobile
broadband service.
More importantly, neither the government nor any private firms should monopolize
the “last mile” and make extravagant profits out of it, she said.
She also pledged to promote the industry of Internet-based innovation and
establish a digital creative fund, which focuses on tasks such as developing
mobile applications, to create 30,000 local job opportunities.
The government would collaborate with private companies to establish a
cloud-computing platform for digital creative content and develop Taiwan into
the global center of digital creative content.
Tsai said the government should help the sector with a well-planned system on
funding and support and try to develop the industry, which is one of a few with
economic and strategic significance for Taiwan, and make Taiwan a “silicon
island” and a global leader in digital content.
Tsai is expected to challenge Ma today on what the DPP describes as his
miserable performance, in the first of three televised presidential platform
presentations, the party said.
Tsai, Ma and People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) are scheduled
to participate in three presentations — scheduled for today, Dec. 30 and Jan. 6
— which will be broadcast live by various TV stations.
The format of the presentations is fundamentally different from the two
presidential debates, which were held on Dec. 3 and Dec. 17, with no
question-and-answer session for candidates to pose questions to each other, said
a DPP aide, who wished to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to
speak on the matter.
However, candidates could still take the opportunity to attack their opponents,
he said, adding that if Ma attacked Tsai over the so-called “Yu Chang case,”
Tsai would be forced to question Ma on his role in the merger of Fubon Bank and
TaipeiBank.
The “Yu Chang case” refers to the allegation by KMT lawmakers that there were
irregularities in Tsai’s endorsement of a government investment in a
biotechnology joint venture in 2007. The Fubon case refers to the DPP’s
accusation that there was a conflict of interest when Ma was Taipei mayor in the
merger between Taipei Bank and Fubon Bank.
According to the DPP aide, Tsai would like to concentrate during the platform
presentation on her policies, which are based on the DPP’s 10-year policy
guideline, and highlight the issues of social justice, regional development, job
creation, developing the local economy and a social care network for the elderly
and children.
In terms of her China policy, Tsai would emphasize safeguarding Taiwan’s
sovereignty and the formulation of a “Taiwan consensus.”
The Central Election Commission will also hold similar platform presentations
for the three vice presidential candidates on Jan. 2 and for Aboriginal
legislative candidates on Jan. 4.
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