By Ho Ai Li , Taiwan Correspondent

TAIPEI: Taiwan President Ma Ying- jeou said yesterday his government plans to create 100,000 new jobs by the first half of next year, as the island's unemployment rate soars to a four-year high amid the global downturn.

The proposal came hot on the heels of a recent plan to hand out NT$82 billion (S$3.7 billion) worth of shopping vouchers to the island's 23 million people to stimulate domestic demand.    

Mr Ma also said he has not given up on realising his election promise of achieving 6 per cent growth in his first term, which ends in 2012, even as Taiwan's export-driven economy heads towards its first recession in five years.

The Taiwanese leader, who scored a landslide victory in March by pledging to revive the economy, had promised to attain the so-called '633' goal: 6 per cent economic growth, an unemployment rate of 3 per cent and per capita annual income of US$30,000 (S$45,900).

'We haven't really abandoned that goal, because that's set actually for the first term. The per capita income of US$30,000 was our plan for two terms,' Mr Ma told a gathering of foreign reporters based in Taipei.

The '633' target was set last year and the recent global economic tsunami took most by surprise, he said.

But he did not elaborate on how his administration plans to create new jobs, or which sector it will focus on.

Taiwan's jobless rate rose to a four-year high of 4.37 per cent last month. The number of unemployed rose by 12,000 to 476,000.

Following the footsteps of other governments, Mr Ma's team has unveiled a NT$483 million stimulus package which will pay for public infrastructure projects, as well as the scheme to hand out shopping vouchers.

His government plans to issue bonds to fund the package, the Taiwanese leader revealed yesterday.

With the stimulus measures, domestic demand is expected to account for 60 per cent of growth next year, making up for the shortfall in exports, predicted Mr Ma.

Foreign trade typically accounts for about 70 per cent of Taiwan's economic growth. Heavily reliant on exports, the island's economy looks likely to skid to 1.87 per cent this year amid the global downturn.

But associate researcher Hong Tsai-lung of the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research doubts that the stimulus plans would have a great impact. 'I think he's learnt to be clever to say that he is trying (to reach his 633 goals) but the problem is that it's not going to be easy,' he said.

Mr Ma's ratings have tumbled since his election, amid growing public dissatisfaction with his economic record.

At the two and a half hour event, Mr Ma also addressed questions on cross-strait ties and measures to root out corruption.

He ruled out a possible visit by the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama who recently expressed his wish to visit Taiwan next year. 'I think at the current moment the timing isn't appropriate for that,' he said.

He did not elaborate, but noted over the session that cross-strait ties have improved since he took office in May.

His Tibet comments marked a sharp turn from his stance in March when he said he would be happy to invite the Dalai Lama to visit the island.

Taiwan hosted two visits by the Dalai Lama in 1997 and 2002, triggering strong condemnation from China.

But while noting that cross-strait ties are at their most amicable, Mr Ma said yesterday there was no urgency for a peace treaty between the two sides, separated after civil war in 1949.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on December 4, 2008.