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Pan-blue legislators slash MAC budget

Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Chao-hui, right, argues with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chu Fong-chi, left, during a joint meeting of the legislature's Home and Nations Committee and the Budget and Final Accounts Committee yesterday, at which the Mainland Affairs Council budget was slashed by NT$438 million. PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES

As a pan-blue dominated committee in the legislature yesterday slashed the Mainland Affairs Council's (MAC) budget for next year, the council's chairman called on Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman and Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to say whether he feels such a move can be justified.

"As a former MAC vice chairman, Ma should tell the public whether he supports the KMT's irrational budget cuts, which would paralyze the MAC," council Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said at a press conference.

The MAC budget for next year was cut by NT$438 million (US$13 million) from NT$780 million, with only the personnel allocations surviving the joint committee's pruning.

The joint committee, comprised of the legislature's Home and Nations Committee and the Budget and Final Accounts Committee, approved the budget cuts by 20 votes to 15.

The motion had been filed by KMT Legislator Lee Ching-hua (李慶華) and People First Party (PFP) Legislator Chang Hsien-yao (張顯耀).

While the pan-blue legislators said they had decided to reduce the budget because of the MAC's delays in promoting cross-strait exchanges, a high-ranking council official yesterday accused the opposition camp of blackmailing the MAC into approving a visa for the director of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, Chen Yunlin (陳雲林).

The KMT has previously accused the MAC of deliberately complicating Chen's visa application by insisting on negotiations with Beijing before considering a visit by China's top Taiwan affairs policymaker.

The party has been trying to establish a regular party-to-party platform between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ever since then KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) visited China earlier this year.

"The pan-blue camp's main purpose in slashing the budget is to bully the MAC into approving Chen's visa request," a high-ranking MAC official said on condition of anonymity.

"We have been trying to gain the support of pan-blue legislators. Some of them have made promises to us in private, but they still followed their parties' instructions while voting. The result proves that the motion to cut the MAC's budget is a means to a pan-blue political end," he said.

The official said that if the MAC fails to have its budget restored in the legislature, it will not rule out the possibility of requesting a constitutional interpretation.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Pan Meng-an (潘孟安) said that the budget cuts are aimed at paving the way for the enactment of a "cross-strait peace advancement bill," as the pan-blue camp wants to establish a committee to replace the MAC.

"The pan-blue camp has a three-pronged strategy to impress China: proposing the cross-strait peace advancement bill, slashing the MAC budget and blocking the arms procurement budget, and then inviting Chinese officials to attend a KMT-CCP platform," Pan said.

Denying that the budget cuts had anything to do with Chen's proposed visit, pan-blue lawmakers set five conditions for returning the council's budget to its previous level: the implementation of direct cross-strait transport links; passage of the organic law for the Executive Yuan; direct flight services between Hong Kong and Macau and Taipei's Sunghsan Airport, Kaohsiung's Hsiaokang International Airport and Tai-chung's Chingchuankang Airport; charter flight services over the Lunar New Year holiday; and making it easier for Chinese tourists to visit Taiwan.

PFP Legislator Feng Ting-kuo (馮定國) said the council's budget would be restored as soon as it maps out concrete plans to put these demands into practice.

"As the council is not doing anything, and has even been hampering the development of cross-strait relations since the DPP came to power, it only makes sense to give them the money when they start doing something," Feng said.

KMT Legislator Chu Fong-chi (朱鳳芝) criticized the DPP for linking the budget cuts to Chen's proposed visit and berated Wu for challenging Ma.

"The cross-strait policy when Ma was the deputy council chairman was peace and harmony, but now the council is actually acting as a stumbling block to cross-strait peace and harmony," she said.

"The reason that we cut its budget is to prevent it from making any more mistakes," Chu said.

Chang said that it was meaningless to restore the council's budget, because it will be abolished as a result of the Executive Yuan's government restructuring plan.

Then it will be up to the DPP administration to resolve the problem, Chang said.

also see story:
Editorial: Chen Yunlin helps the DPP

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