Lawmakers are grilling Cabinet officials over their policies to address Taiwan's aging population. Attracting and retaining foreign talent was also a focus of the questioning.
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00:00Taiwan needs to boost the country's birth rate and attract more international talent.
00:05That was the message from officials and lawmakers speaking in the legislature today.
00:09Taiwan's declining population is not a new problem, but new government figures from last
00:14week are concerning lawmakers here because they show that the problem isn't slowing down.
00:19Next year, the ratio of people over the age of 65 will surpass 20 percent, officially
00:24making Taiwan a super-aged society.
00:27That number is projected to reach nearly 50 percent by 2070.
00:30While Taiwan has been implementing various policies to encourage people to have more
00:34children, lawmakers today are saying that low wages and labor shortages are driving
00:39the problem.
00:40One way to offset the labor shortages from a declining birth rate is through immigration,
01:03and Taiwan has been trying to attract highly skilled foreign workers for some time.
01:07But relatively low wages and tough immigration policies make it hard to retain that talent.
01:13Just this week, a petition calling for Taiwan to end the rule that foreigners have to give
01:17up their existing citizenship in order to naturalize received enough signatures to require
01:22a response from the government, which is expected later this year.
01:26But immigration remains a sensitive topic in Taiwan, and most questions by legislators
01:30today focus on tackling the declining birth rate and population rather than using immigration
01:36rules or attracting foreign talent.
01:38Like other countries in the region, Taiwan has yet to fully address the balance between
01:43easing immigration and its demographic issues, and it is likely to remain a policy challenge
01:49for some time to come.
01:50Joseph Wu and Chris Gorin for Taiwan Plus.