Controversy over a much-disputed bill aimed at reorganizing the country's election oversight body left the legislature at an impasse yesterday, once again stalling the government's 2007 budget request and miring negotiations over a major arms-procurement package.
The legislature yesterday held an extraplenary session to review an amendment to the Organic Law of the Central Election Commission (CEC, 中選會組織法) sponsored by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the government's budget.
To secure a majority for passage of the CEC amendment, the pan-blue camp has held the budget hostage since last year, leaving the government without funding at the start of the fiscal year.
The dispute over the CEC bill has led to angry confrontations between lawmakers, many times turning violent, as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers blocked voting on the amendment.
The DPP has accused the KMT of trying to thwart its plan to hold a referendum during next year's presidential election on recovering assets stolen by the KMT during the Martial Law era, while the KMT has said the CEC bill is necessary to remove what it describes as "partisan bias" in the election committee.
Last week, the DPP caucus offered a compromise to the pan-blues, saying they would allow the CEC amendment to pass on condition that the pan-blues approved the budget for an arms procurement deal that has been stalled, slashed or frozen during preliminary review for several years. But the proposed compromise failed to break the impasse yesterday.
The budget request for the weapons systems currently includes NT$3.59 billion (US$109 million) to upgrade the three existing PAC-2 Patriot anti-missile batteries, NT$11.3 billion to purchase three new PAC-3 Patriot anti-missile batteries, NT$6.13 billion to buy 12 P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft, NT$4.5 billion to assess the feasibility of purchasing diesel-powered submarines and NT$16 billion to procure 66 F-16C/D Falcon fighter aircraft.
During the previous stages of the preliminary review, the pan-blue camp has slashed the budget for the purchase of PAC-3 Patriot anti-missile batteries, cut the funds for the submarine assessment study to NT$200 million and froze the funds put aside for the F-16 C/D fighters.
While the KMT agreed to talk with the DPP about restoring the arms budget, the PFP decided to stand its ground, bringing a motion that called for cutting the entire budget for the US weapons systems.
After the fruitless negotiations, lawmakers again decided to postpone the meeting until next Thursday, as they have done the past two weeks.
The combined effect of the monsoon, the outer rim of Typhoon Fengshen and a low-pressure system is expected to bring significant rainfall this week to various parts of the nation, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The heaviest rain is expected to occur today and tomorrow, with torrential rain expected in Keelung’s north coast, Yilan and the mountainous regions of Taipei and New Taipei City, the CWA said. Rivers could rise rapidly, and residents should stay away from riverbanks and avoid going to the mountains or engaging in water activities, it said. Scattered showers are expected today in central and
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
COOPERATION: Taiwan is aligning closely with US strategic objectives on various matters, including China’s rare earths restrictions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan could deal with China’s tightened export controls on rare earth metals by turning to “urban mining,” a researcher said yesterday. Rare earth metals, which are used in semiconductors and other electronic components, could be recovered from industrial or electronic waste to reduce reliance on imports, National Cheng Kung University Department of Resources Engineering professor Lee Cheng-han (李政翰) said. Despite their name, rare earth elements are not actually rare — their abundance in the Earth’s crust is relatively high, but they are dispersed, making extraction and refining energy-intensive and environmentally damaging, he said, adding that many countries have opted to
CONCESSION: A Shin Kong official said that the firm was ‘willing to contribute’ to the nation, as the move would enable Nvidia Crop to build its headquarters in Taiwan Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) yesterday said it would relinquish land-use rights, or known as surface rights, for two plots in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), paving the way for Nvidia Corp to expand its office footprint in Taiwan. The insurer said it made the decision “in the interest of the nation’s greater good” and would not seek compensation from taxpayers for potential future losses, calling the move a gesture to resolve a months-long impasse among the insurer, the Taipei City Government and the US chip giant. “The decision was made on the condition that the Taipei City Government reimburses the related
RSS