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.
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
RSS