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.
DEFENSE: The first set of three NASAMS that were previously purchased is expected to be delivered by the end of this year and deployed near the capital, sources said Taiwan plans to procure 28 more sets of M-142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as nine additional sets of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), military sources said yesterday. Taiwan had previously purchased 29 HIMARS launchers from the US and received the first 11 last year. Once the planned purchases are completed and delivered, Taiwan would have 57 sets of HIMARS. The army has also increased the number of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) purchased from 64 to 84, the sources added. Each HIMARS launch pod can carry six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, capable of
GET TO SAFETY: Authorities were scrambling to evacuate nearly 700 people in Hualien County to prepare for overflow from a natural dam formed by a previous typhoon Typhoon Podul yesterday intensified and accelerated as it neared Taiwan, with the impact expected to be felt overnight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, while the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration announced that schools and government offices in most areas of southern and eastern Taiwan would be closed today. The affected regions are Tainan, Kaohsiung and Chiayi City, and Yunlin, Chiayi, Pingtung, Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as the outlying Penghu County. As of 10pm last night, the storm was about 370km east-southeast of Taitung County, moving west-northwest at 27kph, CWA data showed. With a radius of 120km, Podul is carrying maximum sustained
Tropical Storm Podul strengthened into a typhoon at 8pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with a sea warning to be issued late last night or early this morning. As of 8pm, the typhoon was 1,020km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving west at 23kph. The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA said. Based on the tropical storm’s trajectory, a land warning could be issued any time from midday today, it added. CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said Podul is a fast-moving storm that is forecast to bring its heaviest rainfall and strongest
TRAJECTORY: The severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday, and would influence the nation to varying degrees, a forecaster said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said it would likely issue a sea warning for Tropical Storm Podul tomorrow morning and a land warning that evening at the earliest. CWA forecaster Lin Ting-yi (林定宜) said the severe tropical storm is predicted to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday and Thursday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving west at 21kph and packing sustained winds of 108kph and gusts of up to 136.8kph, the CWA said. Lin said that the tropical storm was about 1,710km east of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, with two possible trajectories over the next one
RSS