After mentioning the strong likelihood of a pay raise for employees of the public sector, the government now also urges private companies to follow suit. And according to a recent survey, many of Taiwan's enterprises do have plans to increase their employees' salary this year because of the economic recovery.

On the news of a pay raise for civil servants and military officers, Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-hsiang says in the legislature that the survey conducted from January to March shows that most companies have plans to raise pays and believe the profit in second quarter will keep growing.

Recently AIT officials made a remark, saying that if the U.S. beef import dispute continues, this would affect the negotiation progerss of TIFA.

Minister Shih admits the problem and says the government will continue to work with the United States to resolve the issue as the United States is an important trade partner of Taiwan and treasures the Taiwanese market.

Asked about the progress of the negotiation and the bottomline of the government, the minister refused to give more comments.