Taiwan’s Tsai under mid-term pressure over economic woes
TAIPEI: As Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen reaches the half-way mark in her first term on Sunday, she is under growing pressure from a public tired of economic stagnation but critical of her reform efforts.
An increasingly aggressive Beijing is tightening the screws on Taiwan diplomatically and sabre rattling with military drills, but the biggest protests in Taipei in recent months have not been about China relations, which have triggered mass rallies in the past.
Instead, thousands of military veterans and other civil servants have regularly gathered outside parliament in emotive displays against pension cuts.
The rallies have seen physical attacks on journalists and the death of a retired colonel, who fell from a wall during a protest.
Tsai has labelled the cuts ‘painful but necessary’ to prevent public- sector pension schemes from collapsing and dragging down government finances.
Some pension funds could go bankrupt as early as 2020 if the system is not overhauled, the government has warned.
Tsai has said she will press ahead with reforms, arguing the public will see benefits over time.
Her moves to revise labour laws, including scaling back public holidays, have also touched a nerve in Taiwan where salaries have risen little since the 1990s.
“The government has many loud slogans but the policies and reforms have not been well executed and that lowers public confidence in them,” said NGO worker Wu Cheng- cheng, 28.
When Tsai took office in May 2016, her approval rating stood at 70 per cent, with wage hikes and improved working conditions part of her election pledge.
Her popularity has since waned, with the economy topping the list of public gripes. Andie Huang, a 36-year- old office worker, believes Tsai should “stick to what she’s doing” but hopes for better treatment of workers.
“Our salaries are low and commodity prices are high. We can’t afford to buy houses,” she told AFP.
Taiwan’s economy is estimated to have grown 3.04 percent yearon-year in the first quarter this year, but analysts say the data means little to regular people who are struggling to make ends meet as the cost of living soars. — AFP