The 115th National Day Convention was grandly held today (10th). President Lai Ching-te delivered a speech titled "Taiwan, a city on a hill, salt on the ground, light on the world." He emphasized that the city on the hill must be impregnable, and the unity of the people is the key force to maintain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific; he will also build the city on the hill with pragmatic governance; use firm democracy and defense power to become the salt of peace; use innovation, equality and kindness to become the light that warms the world.
Lai Qingde pointed out that in an era of war, authoritarian expansion, and rapid changes in the global order, what kind of country should Taiwan become? His answer is to build a "city on a hill" bravely and confidently. This is not a compliment to oneself, but an expectation for the country's future and a responsibility that Taiwan is willing to bear.
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"A city on a hilltop is built on the mountains that protect the country. It is a beautiful achievement of democratic governance, allowing people to live with peace of mind on a solid foundation." Lai Qingde explained that a city on a hilltop must not only have a dazzling skyline, but also have a solid foundation.
The foundation of Taiwan is the lives of its people. Whether a country is progressing cannot only depend on output value and exports, but also whether labor benefits have improved, whether family burdens have been reduced, whether elders are taken care of, and whether young people believe that hard work can create a better future.
Lai Qingde said that through pragmatic governance, we will promote salary increases, tax cuts, increased benefits, and reduced burdens, so that everyone in this country can stand firm and live well. In the face of the declining number of children, the government has proposed the "Taiwan Population Countermeasures New Strategy—Family Support" based on the "national support for children aged 0 to 6 years old". From childbirth, parenting to education, we will increase subsidies, reduce burdens, increase flexibility, and increase care to establish more complete family support.
Lai Qingde further took stock, facing a super-aging society, promoting "Healthy Taiwan", from cancer screening, smart medical care, in-home care, to improving the medical working environment and nursing manpower, so that Chinese people can not only live long, but also live healthy. In the face of housing pressure, we continue to promote the "Millions of Rental Households Support Plan" to increase supply through multiple methods such as direct construction of social housing, leasing and management, rent subsidies, urban renewal rebates and volume bonuses. We also increase the proportion of housing for marriages and children, implement Qing'an 3.0, and increase the loan limit for families with marriages and children.
Lai Ching-te continued to point out that in order to deal with the shortage of workers and talents, we will promote the "transnational labor force improvement plan", insist on domestic labor as the mainstay, and multinational labor as the supplement, increase the number of manpower in conjunction with salary increases, relax the retention restrictions on senior migrant workers who are transferred to technical manpower, and promote country-to-country direct hiring.
Lai Qingde said that social security is also the unshakable foundation of this city on a hill. In the face of fraud, the Executive Yuan’s Anti-Fraud Command Center has been listed as a permanent task force, integrating internal affairs, legal affairs, data and financial supervision forces, linking prosecutors, finance and platform operators to block the criminal chain from advertising, communications, accounts to cash flow. In the face of drugs and drug-driving, the government continues to promote the "New Generation Anti-Drug Strategy Action Plan" to strengthen anti-drug detection, drug testing, drug treatment and drug recognition, trace the source of drugs upwards, and use saliva drug rapid screening to strengthen road inspections to immediately prevent dangerous driving.
As for energy and climate challenges, Lai Ching-te said that with the goals of stable power supply, energy security and net-zero transformation, we will promote the construction of diversified green energy, energy storage, energy conservation and grid resilience. We will also pragmatically evaluate various energy options based on scientific evidence, legal procedures and safety standards. Energy policy cannot be based on slogans, but must be based on safety, professionalism and responsibility; it must not exclude options for ideology, nor sacrifice generational sustainability for short-term interests.
"The height of a city on a hill is not declared by the government itself, but is built layer by layer by the people's lives." Lai Qingde emphasized that the world should see that democracy not only has the freedom of choice, but also has the ability to solve problems and take care of the people. Taiwan's territory is not large, but it protects democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law, and does not allow authoritarianism to erode precious universal values. It does not seek hegemony, nor does it seek to dominate others. It is well aware of the cost of conflict, so it has chosen to uphold peace as its own responsibility and become a trustworthy stabilizing force in the international community.
