Premier Cho Jung-tai on Wednesday held a press conference to mark the 101st day since the Executive Yuan's "active and innovative Cabinet" was appointed to office by President Lai Ching-te. On this occasion, the premier outlined the government's "Action 101 Strategy" and detailed the administration's current progress and achievements, as well as major policy directions moving forward.
Premier Cho said the "Action 101 Strategy" focuses on a new era, new policies and new infrastructure projects. Centered around the twin pillars of "care" and "development," the strategy puts forth eight major administrative goals to concretely realize President Lai's visions of a new Taiwan with innovation-driven prosperity, just sustainability and democratic peace, aiming not only to lighten people's burdens and make society safer, but also to push forward industry innovation and boost environmental sustainability.
The premier said the eight major administrative goals are: expanding investment in society and easing household burdens; expanding medical investment and building a healthier Taiwan; achieving a pluralistic, egalitarian and prosperous society; forging a resilient Taiwan and upholding security and peace; powering the economy with innovation and smart technology; promoting green growth and net zero by 2050; balancing development to spread hope across Taiwan; and cultivating soft power and building a national brand.
The Executive Yuan will also work together with the Presidential Office's Healthy Taiwan Promotion Committee, National Climate Change Committee and Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee to promote important related policies, such as the Long Term Care Plan 3.0 to achieve the goal of a healthier Taiwan. To address the challenges of climate change, the Executive Yuan has approved the latest phase of a program to utilize smart technologies for flood prevention, under which the government continues to upgrade disaster prevention technologies and early warning capabilities. The government is also proactively developing reliable large language model AI and establishing sovereign AI capabilities.
Regarding the goal of expanding investment in society and easing household burdens, the premier pointed out that 26.5% of the central government's planned 2025 general budget will be used to buttress social welfare and social security programs, including increasing child care subsidies; strengthening campus mental health support systems; expanding budgets for vocational education and higher education; raising salaries by 3% for military personnel, civil servants and public school teachers; promoting a program to provide housing support for 1 million renter households; advancing amendments to the Public Assistance Act; and injecting additional capital into the Labor Insurance and National Health Insurance funds. The Executive Yuan has also been taking steps to realize the administration's goal of expanding medical investment and building a healthier Taiwan, such as by establishing a NT$10 billion (US$313 million) fund for new cancer medicines; extending the coverage of a plan to provide mental health support for the young generation from ages 15 to 45; promoting a 12-point strategic plan to boost the nation's nursing workforce; and approving phase two of a child health care improvement program to further protect the lives and health of newborns and children.
Taiwan's pluralism and egalitarianism are examples of democratic values in action, the premier said. The Executive Yuan has recently approved a draft bill for the establishment of a center for the research and development of national languages. In addition, draft amendments to the Name Act have passed their third and final reading in the Legislative Yuan, enabling indigenous peoples to use their ethnic names on national identification cards or other official documents. A basic law for new immigrants has also been approved by the Legislature, continuing to advance friendlier care and services for new immigrants in Taiwan.
With regard to forging a resilient Taiwan and upholding security and peace, the premier said the Executive Yuan is comprehensively upgrading the nation's anti-fraud capabilities, allocating 4.8 times greater funding to combat fraud in its 2025 general budget compared to this year, and establishing a cross-ministry command center for fighting fraud. Meanwhile, to support pedestrian safety, the Executive Yuan will oversee the completion of safety improvement projects for 799 dangerous road intersections by the end of 2024. The Executive Yuan is also advancing draft amendments to the Fire Services Act to improve occupational safety, and has approved draft amendments to the Cyber Security Management Act. All these initiatives aim to uphold and strengthen national security at every level.
The premier expressed his delight at investment in Taiwan by global semiconductor and technology companies including AMD, Infineon Technologies, NVIDIA and Vantage Data Centers, and expressed confidence that more internationally renowned companies will choose to come to Taiwan in the future. Meanwhile, the government will continue to take care of Taiwan's micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) as well as its traditional industries. Next year, the budget for the government's MSME diversification and revitalization plan will rise to NT$11.6 billion (US$363.1 million), an increase of 53.8% over this year's budget. This administration is also promoting amendments to the Act for Development of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Statute for Industrial Innovation to encourage SMEs to invest in R&D and innovation. Furthermore, to actively promote the Five Trusted Industry Sectors of semiconductors, AI, military, security and surveillance, and next-generation communications, next year's science and technology budget allocates NT$14.6 billion (US$457 million) to semiconductor industry development, NT$9.4 billion (US$294.2 million) to AI, and NT$6 billion (US$187.8 million) to space and communications. Complemented by the Asia Silicon Valley Development Plan 3.0, it is envisaged that these measures will comprehensively drive industrial innovation, and create a smart and resilient society.
To address the global trend towards carbon reduction, the government has published an action plan for 12 key strategies for net-zero transition, the premier said, and will allocate a total budget of NT$116.1 billion (US$3.6 billion) next year—an increase of 21.6% over this year's figure—with the overarching goal of ensuring a safe and stable electricity supply. At the same time, the government is actively assisting industry to introduce deep energy saving services, as well as accelerating the implementation of a construction program to enhance the resilience of the national power grid through strengthening and improving grid infrastructure. Additionally, the government plans to open up SMEs to short-term, low-volume purchases of green power, to facilitate their transition to digital and net-zero carbon business models.
The premier emphasized that in order to realize President Lai's vision of balancing regional development to spread hope across Taiwan, the Executive Yuan has identified 140 national infrastructure projects and is proactively building a smart technology industrial ecosystem. In addition, next year's budget for water resource management projects will reach NT$55.1 billion (US$1.7 billion), an increase of NT$11.5 billion (US$360 million) over this year's figure, which will be invested in systematic water management and flood prevention projects to enhance disaster resilience.
To cultivate Taiwan's soft power and build a national brand, the Executive Yuan has formally established preparatory and advisory groups for a new ministry of sports, the premier said. The intention is that the ministry will bring together three strands of sports policy: international competitions, the sports industry and society-wide sports, to realize the government's new policy of "sports for all." In addition, next year's culture budget will exceed NT$30 billion (US$939 million) for the first time to reach NT$30.393 billion (US$951.3 million), with the goal of supporting high-quality creative productions so that the "Taiwanese Wave" pop culture export economy can glow brightly on the world stage.
Premier Cho said that the Cabinet has adopted Taipei 101 as the spiritual symbol for its "Action 101 Strategy," and will continue to make efforts along three lines: evolving open government, appointing chief sustainability officers for government units, and expanding youth advisory committees, in order to uphold the spirit of open government. This will allow the public to see the nation's direction of travel, and facilitate public participation in policy discussions and the sharing of ideas through the use of open platforms.