Kaohsiung, June 5 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian pitched for cooperation from the opposition parties in revitalizing the domestic economy and reducing unemployment.
Chen made the appeal during an inspection tour of (CSC), one of the most important industrial production bases in southern Taiwan. "With the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) tailing off, now is the time for us to resume our normal life and step up national development programs," Chen said.
He lauded China Steel for its outstanding operational efficiency, saying that the company used to be the top moneymaker among state-owned enterprises and has become even more vibrant since its privatization.
The company is expected to earn NT$36.54 billion (US$1.05 billion) in profits this year, or about NT$100 million per day, Chen noted, saying this is an admirable achievement and a point of honor for all CSC staff.
He expressed regret that the opposition-controlled Legislative Yuan deleted NT$54 billion from the government's projected revenues from sales of its stakes in state-owned enterprises during the current fiscal year. "The move will not only hinder the government's plan to privatize Chunghua Telecom Co. and Chinese Petroleum Corp. but will also aggravate the government's financial strains," Chen said, adding that the government's plan to sell more of its stakes in China Steel and First Commercial Bank will also be affected.
Noting that the executive branch needs the cooperation of the legislative branch, Chen said he is hopeful that the opposition-controlled Legislative Yuan can support the government's economic stimulus package to sustain Taiwan's development.
Chen urged the major opposition parties to support his administration's proposal to push forward a bill that would allow the government to expand the limits of public debt in order to promote public construction projects and lower unemployment.
Compared with the United States, Germany, Japan and Singapore, Chen said, Taiwan still has room to move in the area of public debt. "Our aim is to boost public construction projects and improve the people's quality of life, " he explained, adding that these efforts would stimulate domestic demand and increase employment.
Chen said Taiwan currently has loanable funds totaling NT$2.2 trillion sitting quietly in banks and generating interest, while Taiwan's government debt is only 33.3 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) , far lower than Japan's 142.7 percent, Singapore's 100.7 percent, Germany's 62.4 percent and America's 60.7 percent.