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Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to visit Taiwan during his Asian tour in October, at the invitation of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy and other local groups. The Labor Party politician, now Middle East special envoy of the Quartet, a group of international entities involved in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, would meet with ROC President Ma Ying-jeou and Legislative President Wang Jin-pyng, who doubles as TFD Chairman, and give a speech during his two-day stay in the country.
Academia Sinica revised its forecast for Taiwan’s 2012 economic growth rate downward July 18 from 3.81 percent to 1.94 percent, citing weaker-than-expected international trade due to the European debt crisis and slowdowns in mainland China and the U.S. Its predicted export growth rate was cut sharply from 5.15 percent to 0.87 percent. With rising oil and electricity rates, as well as uncertainties regarding a tax on stocks gains, private consumption is expected to fall from the previous estimate of 2.72 percent to 2.1 percent. Inflation for the year is projected at 1.8 percent, while unemployment is expected to hit 4.18 percent. The research institute estimated that the average salary would decrease by 0.43 percent.
The ROC government is mulling measures to strengthen the protection of victims of criminal offenses in an effort to improve the country’s human rights safeguards. The measures include reinforcing the integrity of investigations, having victims or their relatives deliver opinions at trials, allowing third-party stakeholders to participate in legal proceedings, and handing down judgments on related civil action cases at the same time that rulings are made in criminal cases. Premier Sean C. Chen said past amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure focused on the rights of defendants, and the changes are expected to achieve a balance.
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