The Executive Yuan yesterday announced its decision to withdraw the NT$480 billion (US$15 billion) special arms procurement draft bill, which has been bogged down in the Legislative Yuan for the last two sessions because of opposition from lawmakers of the pan-blue alliance.
Premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) said he will remove the PAC-3 Patriot missile batteries from the proposal, and include them in the Ministry of National Defense's (MND) annual budget instead, which will decrease the total amount of the special budget from NT$480 billion to around NT$350 million. The premier hopes that the new proposal will not be opposed by lawmakers again, and will be approved as soon as possible.
The country's biggest-ever weapons procurement plan focuses on three items -- three PAC-3 Patriot anti-missile batteries -- a high/medium altitude advanced surface-to-air guided missile air defense system -- 12 P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft and eight diesel-electric submarines.
"In addition to seeking support in the legislature, we need to help ourselves, as well. There is a problem that is preventing the proposal from being approved but there is no holiday for national security," Cabinet Spokesman Cho Jung-tai (
Cho spoke on behalf of Hsieh during a press conference after the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday morning, after the Executive Yuan decided to make the budget change. Cho confirmed that the current NT$480 billion proposal was withdrawn and dropped yesterday, and the MND is expected to submit a new proposal sometime next week.
Initially, Cho simply said that the proposal would be amended and "parts of it" would be taken out. When asked which part of the proposal will be taken out, Cho replied "It will be what you think -- the PAC-3 budget will be taken out."
In the meantime, MND Spokesman Rear Admiral Liou Chih-chien (
The special arms purchase budget proposal has been pending in the legislature for more than one year. The original proposal was NT$610.8 billion, but the proposal has been stymied by pan-blue lawmakers, who insist that Taiwan should be allowed to build its own submarines, and say that the price of the budget is too expensive.
In February this year, the MND decreased the total from NT$610.8 billion to NT$480 billion, after they took out the amount included to allow for bargaining.
Meanwhile, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (
"I respect the goodwill gesture expressed by the Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] government and it is time to address the issue," Wang said. "However, it is hard to say whether the opposition parties will accept the government's revised bill, because nothing is certain until all caucuses sit down and talk about it."
Responding to comments made by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (
People First Party (PFP) caucus whip Sun Ta-chien (
DPP caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called on opposition parties to respond positively to the government's goodwill gesture.
"I hope Chairman Ma realizes the fact that the country is at a critical moment," he said. If opposition parties still reject the revised arms package, Lai said that it would only lead the public to think that their opposition is for the mere sake of opposition, because they can easily come up with a different excuse every time.
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) caucus whip David Huang (黃適卓) said that his caucus will support the revised arms plan only if it does not crowd out other budgets.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
BULLY TACTICS: Beijing has continued its incursions into Taiwan’s airspace even as Xi Jinping talked about Taiwan being part of the Chinese family and nation China should stop its coercion of Taiwan and respect mainstream public opinion in Taiwan about sovereignty if its expression of goodwill is genuine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. Ministry spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) made the comment in response to media queries about a meeting between former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) the previous day. Ma voiced support for the so-called “1992 consensus,” while Xi said that although the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have “different systems,” this does not change the fact that they are “part of the same country,” and that “external
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source