At the Cabinet's weekly meeting today, Premier Chang San-cheng heard the National Development Council's (NDC) retrospective report on the government's performance over the past eight years.
Despite a slew of daunting challenges at home and abroad—including global financial crises, the European debt crisis, a restructuring of domestic industries, and an aging and shrinking population—Taiwan made great strides on many international fronts, Chang said. He attributed the achievements to the hard work of all government agencies.
Chang attached high expectations to the incoming administration, which takes over on May 20. He hoped that the new government would continue implementing the successful policies of the current one and work to enhance government administration.
Although Taiwan's economy has been hit hard by three global economic slowdowns since 2008, it continues to improve and attract international recognition, the NDC reported. The government should continue promoting the innovation-driven economic model as well as the "systematic goods and services" export model.
Regarding wealth distribution, the household disposable income ratio of the top 20 percent to the lowest 20 percent declined from 6.34 in 2009 to 6.05 in 2014 (returning to pre-financial crisis levels), better than the levels in Japan, Hong Kong and the U.S. Similarly, the ratios for personal disposable income dropped from 4.35 in 2009 to 3.98 in 2014, lower than those of the U.S., South Korea and Singapore.
In the area of environmental sustainability, Taiwan made noticeable improvements over the past eight years in disaster mitigation, carbon reduction and balanced regional development. As the nation enters the low-carbon era, the government should develop alternative resources and select an energy portfolio that most benefits Taiwan while also meeting the goals of the Paris climate agreement. In carbon-reduction efforts, Taiwan's energy intensity dropped an average 2.31 percent each year from 2009 through 2015, better than the target of 2 percent annually, the NDC said.
As for cross-strait exchanges, Taiwan and mainland China have signed 23 formal agreements and reached two consensuses, including the Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, the Cross-Strait Bilateral Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement, and the Cross-Strait Customs Cooperation Agreement.
Regarding national defense, Taiwan's military was rated 13th strongest in the world and fourth in Asia (behind mainland China, Japan and South Korea) by the financial-services firm Credit Suisse in a September 2015 report.
In foreign diplomacy, the number of countries and territories granting visa privileges to ROC nationals more than tripled from 54 in 2007 to 164 currently. Taiwanese passports ranked 28th best in the world for visa-free access to other countries, according to Henley & Partners' Visa Restrictions Index 2015.
As for tourism, Lonely Planet named Taiwan one of the 10 best travel destinations in the world. In 2015 alone, the number of visitors to Taiwan hit an all-time high of 10.44 million, an impressive 181-percent increase over 2007. Tourism revenues for 2015 are expected to reach NT$445 billion (US$13.9 billion), or 160 percent higher than in 2007. In 2014, Taiwan recorded the second-highest growth worldwide in the number of foreign tourist arrivals, second only to Japan.